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Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Home / Daily Update  /  Daily Update: November 19, 2025

Daily Update: November 19, 2025

November 19, 2025 | Daily Update

In this edition:

  • Shaw Festival gets town OK to build new Royal George Theatre
  • Ontario expands energy savings programs
  • Decision on 9-tower project at former St. Catharines hospital property postponed
  • Siscoe’s ‘Do Your Job’ motion aimed at Niagara Region’s homelessness response
  • Thorold residents push back against parking lot expansion into Memorial Park
  • NPCA, seaway team up to plant 3,000 trees
  • ‘Gas-for-wine’: South Africa seeks deal to boost trade, investment with Canada
  • Focus on Technology

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Picture credit: Unity Design Studio

 Shaw Festival gets town OK to build new Royal George Theatre

The show will go on for Shaw Festival’s $50-million Royal George Theatre rebuilding project.

In a reversal that took a circuitous route, elected officials during Tuesday’s town council meeting voted 6-3 to support Shaw Festival’s application for official plan and zoning bylaw amendments to build the estimated 4,920-square-metre building on Queen Street.

Click here to read more.

An electrician tests the electrical connections on the external heat exchanger for an air heat pump

Picture credit: bancha / Adobe Stock

Ontario expands energy savings programs

As part of its plan to protect Ontario by keeping energy costs down, the government is expanding its energy savings programs, introducing new rebates for energy-efficient home appliances and incentives for industrial, municipal, institutional and health-care organizations. Ontario’s energy savings programs are part of province’s 12-year, $10.9 billion Energy Efficiency Framework, the largest investment in energy-efficiency programs in Canadian history, and Energy for Generations, the province’s first-ever integrated energy plan.

Click here to read more.

The main entrance to the now-demolished St. Catharines hospital on Queeston Street

Photo credit: Google Streetview screenshot

Decision on 9-tower project at former St. Catharines hospital property postponed

The developer of the old Queenston Street hospital site and city planning staff have been asked to work out differences of opinion on some details before council gives the go-ahead for a nine-tower project.

The proposed development of the 24-storey towers with more than 2,400 units at 142 Queenston St. was before city council for official plan and zoning bylaw amendments and approval of a draft plan of subdivision Monday night.

Click here to read more.

St. Catharines Mayor Mat Siscoe speaks at the 2024 State of the City event

Photo credit: Brad Demers / Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce

Frustrated with a perceived lack of action from Niagara Region on the homelessness crisis, St. Catharines city council is calling on the province to create legislation that would allow the city to provide services and bill the Region.

Click here to read more.

Picture credit: City of Thorold

Thorold residents push back against parking lot expansion into Memorial Park

Thorold council chambers were packed last night as residents gathered to fight the proposed plans for a parking lot extension at the Thorold Centre 50+ on Carleton Street.

Earlier this year, City Hall moved the development services department over to the second floor of the building at Carleton Street and the influx of new cars has filled the parking lot to the brim.

Click here to read more.

Picture credit: Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority

NPCA, seaway team up to plant 3,000 trees

A budding partnership of Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. will soon bloom into a veritable forest.

NPCA and the seaway have collaborated under the Trees for All initiative to plant 3,000 native trees across the local watershed.

Click here to read more.

Rows of bottles containing alcoholic beverages on store shelves

Picture credit: jobi_pro / Adobe Stock

‘Gas-for-wine’: South Africa seeks deal to boost trade, investment with Canada

As Prime Minister Mark Carney heads to Johannesburg for the G20 summit, Canada and South Africa are talking about a deal to boost bilateral trade and investment that could see more South African wine on Canadian shelves in exchange for gas exports.

Click here to read more.

Focus on Technology

Most Canadian companies have begun to roll out artificial intelligence in some form, but only a small fraction have seen any return on their investments so far, according to a new report.

KPMG in Canada found in its online poll of more than 750 business leaders across the country that 93 per cent said their organizations are using AI, significantly up from 61 per cent last year.

However, a mere two per cent of respondents said their companies are seeing a return on their generative AI investments, the audit and consulting firm found.

“Only a small sliver of Canadian businesses are generating growth from their AI investments today, and that’s understandable — new technologies take time to be adopted and demonstrate identifiable return on investment,” said Stephanie Terrill, managing partner of digital and transformation at KPMG in Canada, in a release.

However, the country’s slowing productivity means that waiting years for AI investments to create value is “downright risky,” she said.

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.

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