In this edition:
- Businesses still facing obstacles, but pressures are easing: Statistics Canada
- Governments of Canada and Ontario bringing broadband internet to Niagara communities
- New chapter for St. Catharines’ Book Outlet
- Transparency needed in governance meetings: Campion, Diodati
- Unifor autoworkers overwhelmingly vote to authorize strikes at GM, Ford, Stellantis
- Organized cybercime “very likely” a threat to national security and economic prosperity: Canadian Cyber Centre
- Niagara College team wins five medals and top title at U.S. Open College Beer Championship
- Reading Recommendations: Small Business
Businesses still facing obstacles, but pressures are easing: Statistics Canada
Businesses continued to expect to face a variety of obstacles related to supply chains, rising inflation, and rising costs, Statistics Canada reported in today’s release of the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions. However, pressures faced by businesses have continued to ease in the third quarter of 2023 relative to the previous two quarters.
Nearly one in five businesses were facing challenges maintaining inventory levels or acquiring inputs, products or supplies, either domestically or abroad. Among these businesses, nearly one-quarter expected these challenges to worsen in the short term.
Nearly half of businesses expected their operating expenses to increase over the next three months. Additionally, one-third of businesses expected their profitability to decrease, and just over one-quarter expected to increase the prices they charge.
Governments of Canada and Ontario bringing broadband internet to Niagara communities
Today, the Honourable Anita Anand, President of the Treasury Board, and the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, on behalf of the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, together with the Honourable Kinga Surma, Ontario’s Minister of Infrastructure, and Donna Skelly, Member of Provincial Parliament for Flamborough–Glanbrook, announced over $219 million in combined federal and provincial funding for Rogers to bring high-speed Internet access to more than 66,000 households in over 300 Ontario communities, including over 600 Indigenous households.
Niagara communities in the program include Beamsville, Crystal Beach, Dain City, Fonthill, Fort Erie, Grimsby, Jordan, Jordan Station, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, St. Davids, Thorold, Virgil, Wainfleet, Welland, and Wellandport.
New chapter for St. Catharines’ Book Outlet
It may be a small part of the overall business, but for 30 years Book Outlet in St. Catharines has been a huge part of the book-loving community in Niagara.
And while the company’s chief executive officer said it was something of a bittersweet decision to close the physical bookstore on Welland Avenue, it was a necessary move for a growing business in the digital age.
“As a company, we are just deeply grateful for 30 years of support. Those who were regulars came every month. But then those who came to our big events, the box sales and the Boxing Week sales. This community has been really, really good to us,” said Wilf Wikkerink, CEO of Book Depot Inc., which has operated Book Outlet for three decades.
Transparency needed in governance meetings: Campion, Diodati
With the province announcing recently it will be appointing a regional facilitator for Niagara in the coming weeks, many people are left wondering what Niagara will look like in the future.
While there are few details about what’s to come, other than that the facilitator will be looking to create efficiencies, at least two Niagara mayors feel that discussions should be held in open session.
Admitting it’s not a popular opinion, Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said he believes Niagara has too many politicians as it is and said the more that can be condensed moving forward, the better.
Unifor autoworkers overwhelmingly vote to authorize strikes at GM, Ford, Stellantis
Workers at a trio of major automakers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing their union to call a strike if bargaining committees can’t secure new collective agreements in the coming months.
Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, says its members at Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Stellantis all voted between 98 and 99 per cent in favour of the strike mandate.
The vote took place over the weekend amid a pause in bargaining talks. The current batch of collective agreements, which cover 18,000 workers at the “Detroit Three” automakers, are set to expire before midnight on Sept. 18.
Organized cybercime “very likely” a threat to national security and economic prosperity: Canadian Cyber Centre
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) has released the Baseline Cyber Threat Assessment on Cybercrime, with support from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), to inform cyber security professionals and Canadians about the threat to Canada posed by global cybercrime.
Ransomware is almost certainly the most disruptive form of cybercrime facing Canada, the assessment stated, because it is pervasive and can have a serious impact on an organization’s ability to function. Financially motivated cybercriminals will almost certainly continue to target high-value organizations in critical infrastructure sectors in Canada and around the world over the next two years.
The report also highlighted that Russia and, to a lesser extent, Iran very likely act as cybercrime safe havens from which cybercriminals based within their borders can operate against Western targets. Russian intelligence services and law enforcement almost certainly maintain relationships with cybercriminals and allow them to operate with near impunity.
Niagara College team wins five medals and top title at U.S. Open College Beer Championship
The Niagara College team, including Research & Innovation students Santiago Ampudia and Gian Raina Arnas, has won five medals and the top title at the recent 2023 U.S. Open College Beer Championship.
Every beer that the College’s Teaching Brewery entered in this year’s competition achieved a medal, including two golds, two silvers, and a bronze.
Two students from the College’s two-year Brewmaster and Brewery Operations Management diploma program were behind two of the five medals.
Did you know?
12,000 nails will be used in the construction of an average-sized house.
Focus on Small Business
How to sell your new product to early adopters
From initial test users to the last buyers to jump on the bandwagon, every new product or service moves through the same sets of adopters on the way to full market acceptance.
As the name suggests, early adopters come at the very beginning of the product launch process. They bridge the gap between test users and the first regular customers. One thing common to all early adopters is having a problem to solve.
They don’t want to be guinea pigs, but they’re willing to take the risk of trying something new if they think it might help them.
Through the Daily Updates, the GNCC aims to deliver important business news in a timely manner. We disseminate all news and information we feel will be important to businesses. Inclusion in the Daily Update is not an endorsement by the GNCC.
