In this edition:
- Niagara unemployment rate dips to 7.6% while national rate ticks up to 6.9%
- Asahi Kasei to hold community open house on new Port Colborne plant
- St. Catharines BIA invites businesses to participate in free gift card program
- Ontario to host Trade Together Fund program webinars
- Sky is the limit for the Niagara District Airport
- Date set for opening of new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital
- PM Mark Carney to unveil new cabinet at Rideau Hall on Tuesday
- Air Canada lowers financial forecast amid declining cross-border travel
- Enbridge CEO to PM Carney: ‘We’re ready to rock’ on building new pipelines
- Focus on Municipalities
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Photo credit: snowing12 / Adobe Stock
Niagara unemployment rate dips to 7.6% while national rate ticks up to 6.9%
Niagara’s unemployment rate fell from 7.7% in March to 7.6% in April, new data from the Labour Force Survey released today has shown. The participation and employment rates both grew locally, indicating more people were finding work in the month of April.
Nationally, employment was little changed in April and the employment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 60.8%. The unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 6.9%. The employment rate declined more sharply in Ontario, dropping by 35,000 or –0.4%.
Picture credit: Asahi Kasei
Asahi Kasei to hold community open house on new Port Colborne plant
On Tuesday, May 13, Asahi Kasei will host a drop-in style event to share additional information about their battery separator plant project.
Picture credit: St. Catharines downtown association
St. Catharines BIA invites businesses to participate in free gift card program
The St. Catharines downtown BIA is promoting its Downtown Gift Card on an ongoing basis, and encourages all businesses to sign up. Cards that will work anywhere Visa is accepted including restaurants, retail and service providers. There is no cost to participate.
Picture credit: Виталий Сова / Adobe Stock
Ontario to host Trade Together Fund program webinars
The Ontario Together Trade Fund (OTTF) provides financial support to help businesses near-term investments so they can serve more interprovincial customers, develop new markets and re-shore critical supply chains in the face of U.S. tariffs.
The Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT) will be hosting a series of public facing webinars to provide a program overview of the Ontario Trade Together Fund (OTTF) program. Sessions will be held on May 22, June 5, and June 19.
Picture credit: Niagara District Airport
Sky is the limit for the Niagara District Airport
The residents and public officials who took in the Niagara District Airport’s public information session caught a glimpse of the facility’s high-flying potential Wednesday.
“I try to tell folks that if you look at this as a 100-metre dash, we’re starting at the 60-metre mark,” said Dan Pilon, the airport’s CEO since 2021 after serving in an interim role since 2018.
Picture credit: Hamilton Health Sciences
Date set for opening of new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital
The new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital is almost ready to open, as Hamilton Health Sciences has said the new facility will open on or around October 27th, exactly 76 years to the month of the opening of the existing hospital.
Photo credit: Wangkun Jia / Adobe Stock
PM Mark Carney to unveil new cabinet at Rideau Hall on Tuesday
Prime Minister Mark Carney will unveil his new cabinet in a swearing in ceremony on Tuesday, Rideau Hall has confirmed.
In a ceremony presided over by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, the newly elected prime minister will present to Canadians who he has picked to deliver on his series of campaign commitments, and lead on key files at a pivotal time for the nation.
Photo credit: TOimages / Adobe Stock
Air Canada lowers financial forecast amid declining cross-border travel
Air Canada is lowering its financial forecast for the year as travellers shy away from trips to the United States.
The country’s largest airline says it expects adjusted earnings of between $3.2 billion and $3.6 billion in 2025 versus the $3.4 billion to $3.8 billion range laid out earlier this year.
Picture credit: JHVEPhoto / Adobe Stock
Enbridge CEO to PM Carney: ‘We’re ready to rock’ on building new pipelines
Enbridge CEO Greg Ebel says he’s excited by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s stated support for building new infrastructure aimed at making Canada an energy “superpower.”
Focus on Municipalities
How Canada can turn tariff tensions into a global affordable housing alliance
Canada is facing a worsening housing crisis. Home prices have exploded, with 45 per cent of Canadians saying they are deeply worried about finding affordable housing.
The country needs to build an additional 3.5 million homes by 2030 to achieve housing affordability. However, housing supply is lagging well behind that target even as demand continues to rise, driven largely by population growth and immigration.
But Canada has key advantages that make it well suited to expand modular and prefabricated housing. In particular, it has a strong forest products sector for supplying wood panels and engineered timber, a skilled construction and technology workforce and a growing policy drive for lower-carbon building.
Canadian builders have already shown they can deliver modular housing at scale. Launched in 2020, Canada’s Rapid Housing Initiative committed $1 billion to modular projects, followed by another $1.5 billion in 2021 to quickly house vulnerable populations.
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.
