Your browser is not supported

Your browser is too old. To use this website, please use Chrome or Firefox.

Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Daily Update: July 29 2024

In this edition:

  • Employees at Rankin Construction ratify new deal
  • Work underway at $1.56B Port Colborne EV battery factory
  • Niagara-on-the-Lake loses appeal of land tribunal ruling approving King St. condo project
  • Provincial Skills Development Fund stream opens, $260M available
  • Border traffic ‘pretty well back to normal’ at Peace Bridge since pandemic
  • Councillor hoping St. Catharines will move ahead with safer streets
  • Focus on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Did you know you can get the GNCC’s Daily Update emailed to you? Click here to sign up.


Photo credit: Rankin Construction

Employees at Rankin Construction ratify new deal

Workers at Rankin Construction have ratified a new three-year contract. The 150 employees are represented by the Construction Workers Union, CLAC Local 6.

The union says the new deal ensures a total package increase of between 17 and 19 percent. Those increases include wage increases and improvements in benefits and tool allowance.

Rankin Construction works on many major projects in the region including roads, bridges, sewer and watermain, marine, and more.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: ChrisVanLennepPhoto / Adobe Stock

Work underway at $1.56B Port Colborne EV battery factory

Excavators, bulldozers and articulated haulers dot 81 hectares of land in north Port Colborne, as they prepare the future site of Asahi Kasei Corp.’s $1.56-billion, 185,800-square-metre lithium-ion separator battery plant.

Port Colborne Mayor Bill Steele said he is elated to see work underway on the largest investment, announced in May, made in the city.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: Raimondo & Associates Architects Inc.

Niagara-on-the-Lake loses appeal of land tribunal ruling approving King St. condo project

The Ontario Land Tribunal has dismissed the town’s appeal of a tribunal decision that allowed construction of a three-storey, 17-unit apartment building on King Street.

The project proposed by developer Butler’s Gardens Development Inc. and its owner, Josh Bice, was initially sent to the land tribunal in January after town council decided not to approve it.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: Africa Studio / Adobe Stock

Provincial Skills Development Fund stream opens, $260M available

The Ontario government’s Skills Development Fund (SDF) Training Stream opens today, with up to an additional $260 million available, the biggest funding round since the Fund launched in 2021. Building on the success of the previous four rounds, the fifth round will help tackle Ontario’s labour shortage by connecting jobseekers with employers, allowing them to begin rewarding careers in in-demand sectors such as manufacturing, construction and technology.

Beginning today, employers, employment service and training providers, labour unions, business and industry organizations, municipalities, hospitals, Indigenous Band offices, Indigenous skills and employment training agreement holders, service system managers and other community organizations eligible for funding should submit their proposals through Transfer Payment Ontario.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: Allison / Adobe Stock

Border traffic ‘pretty well back to normal’ at Peace Bridge since pandemic

Border traffic is creeping closer to pre-pandemic levels at Niagara’s international crossings.

Ron Rienas, general manager of Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (PBA), said car traffic during the first six months of the year was 95 per cent back to 2019 figures at the Peace Bridge.

Click here to read more.


Photo credit: Robin McPherson

Councillor hoping St. Catharines will move ahead with safer streets

A St. Catharines City Councillor wants to see the city do a better job making roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Councillor Robin McPherson says an updated Transportation Master Plan can do just that.

McPherson says the trouble is that some councillors are not keen on the cost of possible improvements. Click here to listen to McPherson discuss the issue on Niagara in the Morning.

Click here to read more.


Did you know?

The first Welland Canal crossed the Welland River on a wooden aqueduct where downtown Welland is today, and the area was then known simply as “Aqueduct.”


Focus on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Go Woke, Go Broke…Not Necessarily

The media has featured some ‘go woke, go broke’ memes. This phenomenon refers to the weakness in the stocks of some companies that have introduced products or programs that are out of line with the tastes or beliefs of major sections of the population over the last year.

The graph below is the equally-weighted price index of seven stocks of companies that are considered ‘woke.’ Note that the index fell by a much greater percentage than the S&P in the 2023 correction. The index has, however, recovered at twice the rate of the S&P from the October low. Apparently, the ‘woke scare’ wore off quickly. Emotion subsided and rational fundamental analysis came to the rescue. Investors likely realized that the fundamental operations of these companies remained intact and took advantage of the low prices to add to portfolios. Investors may want to keep this in mind for the next stock that takes a ‘woke’ dive.

Click here to read more.


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.


Share this: