Joint Chamber/Board of Trade Regional Chair address

On March 25, 2021, Regional Chair and CEO John Henry spoke at the 2021 Annual Regional Chair's Address for the Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade, Oshawa Chamber of Commerce and Whitby Chamber of Commerce.

Check against delivery.

Good afternoon, everyone.

I’m very happy to be here today, it was a year ago on March 3^rd 2020 that we met in person for this event and oh how the world has changed. I appreciate the opportunity be here today virtually to provide you with an update from the Region.

It’s always great to see different organizations come together for occasions such as this.

I’d like to thank the Ajax/Pickering Board of Trade, the Oshawa Chamber of Commerce and the Whitby Chamber of Commerce for making this event possible.

On the COVID-19 front, it’s been a very exciting month for us, as we began our public vaccination clinics in Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa and Clarington—with Ajax and North Durham not too far behind, in the next week or so.

Our vaccine clinics truly signify the “beginning of the end” to the pandemic we have all been dealing with for a full year now.

We aren’t out of the woods yet, however.

We remain in the Red-Control category of the Provincial Framework, and cases are rising due to the variants that are now spreading in the community.

We must all remain vigilant and follow best public health practices until the vaccine roll out is complete.

That being said, we are closer to the end of this pandemic than ever, thanks to the hard work of our staff and community.

We have been planning Durham’s recovery and restoration for some time, and implementing as many supports as we can for local businesses throughout the past year.

And this work wouldn’t have been possible without the Ajax/Pickering Board of Trade, Oshawa Chamber of Commerce and the Whitby Chamber of Commerce through our joint efforts as members of the Durham Economic Task Force.

Together, the Task Force worked on Initiatives like the RitualONE free food ordering service; Digital Main Street program, the Downtowns of Durham website, and the central online portal at Invest Durham DOT C-A to share critical information with the Durham business community.

Speaking of which, I’m pleased to share that the work of the Task Force was recently recognized with a national Marketing Canada Award from the Economic Developer’s Association of Canada – for the Downtowns of Durham project.

Nothing has inspired me more over the past year than the grit and passion of our small local businesses. They have pivoted. They have adapted. And they have shown that they are the true heart and soul of our community.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to shop local.

Did you know that for every $100 spent locally, $70 is reinvested back into our local economy?

Further, 75 percent of all new jobs being created in Canada are within the small business sector.

And that’s why, earlier this year, in partnership with the Whitby BIA and the Durham Economic Task Force, we launched the Shop Durham Region online marketplace.

At Shop Durham Region DOT COM, shoppers can buy local goods from Durham Region businesses offering contactless pick up.

By centralizing the shopping experience with one easy-to-browse website, people are exposed to new local products and buy products from various local businesses in one transaction.

New products are added every day, and new vendors as well. If you are a local business, or know an owner who would be interested in listing goods on Shop Durham Region, be sure to check it out. It’s completely free.

I would be remiss not to mention the heroic work done by our Health and Social Services staff during this time as well.

Their efforts to protect the health and safety of our community, from the least to most vulnerable, has been nothing short of extraordinary. I would also like to thank all of the people within our region who have helped us through the pandemic. From the staff at Lakeridge Health and Uxbridge hospitals, fire, police, paramedics, childcare, water plant operators, call center staff, senior and retirement staff, mayors and municipal staff and Durham Emergency Management Office. I would also like to thank all of the front-line staff retail staff, grocery store, trucking and distribution and the incredible volunteers and charitable organizations who continue to work through the pandemic.

From a Social Services perspective, they are diligently working to ensure the safety of unsheltered residents, with key funding from the Provincial Government’s Social Services Relief Fund.

Beyond the scope of COVID at the Region, over the past year, we’ve remained committed to keeping key services and projects moving forward.

Planning for and supporting transit-oriented development is so important for the Region, that we recently created a new Transit Oriented Development office to support the implementation of rapid transit projects across Durham.

This new group will continue to capitalize on the environmental, economic and community building benefits associated with rapid transit investment.

Investments such as the Durham Scarborough Bus Rapid Transit Corridor, and developing the business case for the Simcoe Rapid Transit Corridor.

And of course—the economic impacts of improved rapid transit will be incredible.

We continue to urge the provincial government to commit to the Lakeshore GO East Extension and the creation of four additional transit stations—two of which are in Oshawa—on an expedited timeline.

We are continuing to promote Durham Region as a good place to invest and continued focus on job creation.

One of my top priorities is to ensure that Durham Region is the best place to live for everyone.

The Region recently appointed Allison Hector-Alexander to lead our new office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Last week, I joined Allison; our CAO Elaine-Baxter Trahair; along with guest panelists, to host a public town hall about Anti-Black Racism.

It was a chance for open dialogue—allowing us to better understand one another and create an anti-racist environment moving forward.

And speaking of moving forward, we are taking measurable steps towards addressing anti-Black racism, diversity, equity and inclusion, by providing a dedicated focus to anti-racism initiatives as a key priority across the entire corporation.

Key initiatives include:

• Establishing of a community-based anti-racism task force as a formal advisory committee to Council
• Undertaking engagement and outreach as part of broader community-facing activities
• And conducting an environmental scan to identify equity, diversity and inclusion gaps in existing policies, data, processes and partnerships.

Together this will provide co-ordination and structure to existing internal work and community development.

Because no form of racism is acceptable, and we have a long way to go in the goal of being a more inclusive and diverse region.

Inclusivity extends beyond race and gender.

With this in mind, we are also focused on continuing to implement the Age-Friendly Durham Strategy and Action Plan in collaboration with partners and the Durham Council on Aging.

As a corporation, Durham Region strives to be an innovative, sustainable, future-oriented organization.

And in late February, Regional Council approved a budget that keeps those priorities in mind while balancing affordability for our taxpayers.

Our 2021 Budget was approved at $1.488 billion—this represents a net property tax increase of 1.98 per cent. Or, approximately $55 for the average home.

On top of continuing to deliver excellent services to residents and business in Durham, from roads and water to long-term care; we have also invested in many strategic priorities that will ensure Durham continues to grow prosperously.

Our budget underlines the Region’s commitment to land-use planning – environmental sustainability and supporting our rural communities.

Durham Region is taking important steps to accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon, climate resilient community.

Investments in climate and environmental sustainability include the development and implementation of a Corporate Climate Action Plan, the launch of an innovative Durham Home Energy Savings program to help homeowners reduce energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, nature-based solutions, a low carbon fleet strategy, and a suite of deep energy retrofits.

Another significant investment is the new Mixed Waste Pre-Sort and Anaerobic Digestion—or AD—facility.

The Mixed Waste Pre-sort AD facility with an Energy from Waste plant, will be a first-of-its-kind fully integrated waste management initiative in North America.

This system will convert food scraps into renewable natural gas and will use the residuals to generate electrical energy that can be used in a variety of applications.

The proposed AD process will be odour and emissions free thanks to some remarkable technological advancements.

The new facility will be located next to the Durham York Energy Centre (DYEC) in the Energy Park and will only accept waste from Durham Region and will delay the need to expand the DYEC facility.

As Durham Region’s population is growing and expected to be more than 1 million people in the next decade, more residents will mean more garbage created for the Region to manage.

The Mixed Waste Pre-sort facility will remove non-combustible material and recyclables to further increase diversion from landfill and extend the life of the DYEC.

Many more projects of this scale and innovation will be needed in the future to combat climate change and ensure our environmental sustainability—and we are ready for that challenge.

To that end, I am also excited to announce a new program in partnership with Oshawa Power and Elexicon Energy, funded by Natural Resources Canada, called E-mission.

E-mission includes a number of opportunities to learn more about electric vehicles, and will be launching in the near future.

The program includes; booking a free, private test drive with Plugn’ Drive at one of six locations across the region, hearing testimonials from other EV drivers, and test driving an EV at any of our participating local dealerships.

Currently, the transportation sector is the largest source of global warming pollution in Durham Region.

Projects like E-mission are a step in the right direction to making a change for not only our environment, but also our local economy.

We hope you will participate in these events in the coming months to learn more about EVs and how they can help make positive change.

And a top priority continues to be connecting our Region with broadband infrastructure.

All levels of government have a role to play to significantly improve broadband access in Durham.

Now, more than ever, we understand the importance of being and staying connected.

In fact, the Region is starting construction this summer on its first major fiberoptic broadband project from Pickering up to Uxbridge.

It is our first major step in bridging the digital divide and bringing higher speeds to our underserved communities.

We also recently applied for funding from the Province of Ontario and Federal Government of Canada for the phased implementation of a broadband network in Durham Region.

We’re working in partnership with the OPUC – the Oshawa Power and Utilities Corporation – on this transformative project.

It will serve Durham’s rural and underserved communities; leveraging the existing fibre infrastructure of the Region and OPUC to extend broadband access across Durham.

It’s through these continued investments that we will be able to bring our vision of connecting our entire region with fast and reliable broadband to life.

We are also focused on ensuring a bright future for Durham Region, in every sense of the word.

The Intelligent Communities Forum has recognized Durham Region as one of the Smart21 Communities of the Year for 2021.

This program recognizes the world's leading municipalities that are successfully leveraging data and digital assets to develop inclusive and prosperous communities.

This recognition builds on the Region’s Intelligent Communities Framework developed in 2020, and is a great motivator for expanding and growing this work in 2021.

In addition, Durham Region is within the top 15 of Communities ranking in North America’s Top 20 Most Open Cities in 2020 through it’s Open Data Initiative.

Durham’s goals over the next year include setting up a Community Advisory Panel to create a channel for regular engagement with community partners and the public.

This panel will also play a key role in developing processes to trial innovation, sharing data and supporting the launch of signature projects.

Recognizing the important balance between technology and nature, the Region will be implementing a strategy to expand tree planting across Durham.

This new strategy will help us to meet the Region’s Official Plan woodland cover target of 30 per cent of total land area.

The strategy will target more than 100,000 trees planted in 2021-2022, and close to 750,000 trees by 2025.

Durham is also expanding the availability of the LEAF backyard tree planting program to residents and increase the number of backyard trees planted by 50 per cent in comparison to 2020.

We’ve also budgeted to provide funding for the Bowmanville Hospital Expansion, Grandview Children’s Centre, Durham College and Trent University Durham for their capital building projects under the Region’s Community Investment Grant program.

All the priorities I’ve outlined above underline our desire to capitalize on Durham’s legacy as builders, economic drivers and shepherds of sustainability going forward.

Our new economy will be one that features autonomous and electric vehicles, sustainable nuclear energy, AI and personalized medicine.

We are developing a Regional strategy for the nuclear energy sector to support economic prosperity, community safety and sustainability.

I am pleased that OPG has resumed planning activities for new Small Modular Reactor (SMR) development in Durham Region.

SMRs, like traditional nuclear reactors, are designed to provide safe, reliable, carbon-free electricity, but with a much smaller land footprint than current reactors.

They also offer lower capital cost and faster deployment.

OPG is leading the way in the advancement of SMR technology, and Durham Region is excited by the economic opportunity of being one of the first sites globally for this emerging industrial subsector.

With the establishment of the Centre for Canadian

Nuclear Sustainability that will support the decommissioning in Pickering.

For Durham, this development will help drive innovation and stimulate new business throughout our region.

We look forward to working with OPG to achieve the community benefits associated with successful SMR development.

Durham Region is the Clean Energy Capital of Canada, producing about 30 per cent of Ontario's electricity, and is a recognized energy cluster with two nuclear generating stations.

We have unique nuclear post-secondary degree programs, and a highly specialized workforce.

With the potential for Durham to host the first grid-connected SMR in the world, and be the future home to a world-leading cluster of SMR technology companies, Durham and Ontario will be the clean energy capital of the world.

This development complements the shift to a low-carbon economy and achievement of GHG emissions targets that I mentioned previously; and will provide carbon-free, affordable, reliable, and safe energy.

It’s an exciting opportunity and highlights the economic potential of new nuclear across the country.

Today, as we look forward, we know that COVID-19 will continue to impact us for the foreseeable future.

So, every decision we make will require a COVID lens.

But as you know, our priorities haven’t changed; their importance has only been amplified.

Priorities such as the importance of environmental sustainability and agriculture; social housing; and supporting our local businesses to foster continued economic success for our great region.

Hand-in-hand with our Board and Chamber partners through the Durham Economic Task Force, we are supporting local businesses in resuming operations to get our economic engine back up and running.

We are providing support and funding to new housing developments through the Regional Revitalization Program where eligible.

We are constantly looking at opportunities for partnerships, and continued investment and funding from partners such as the provincial and federal governments.

We are promoting current and new post-secondary programming to “upskill” and retrain the current workforce to ensure a more adaptable and resilient economy. While COVID-19 was the major focus last year, there were still plenty of bright spots beyond the pandemic.

Town of Ajax

Amazon is building a one million-square-foot distribution facility in Ajax—bringing 1,000 new jobs.

This is a significant investment in Ajax, and our region.

But most importantly, this announcement is a direct reflection of the collaboration that exists between Durham Region’s economic development team, the Town of Ajax and other important business partners.

Together, we are showcasing why Durham Region is the best place to live, work, grow and invest.

320 long term care beds at the Ajax Pickering Hospital site.

Brock

Major Project – Water Supply in the downtown area. Total Estimated costs: $14,925,000.

Clarington

Lakeshore GO East expansion project 

• The Lakeshore GO East expansion project has made significant progress. We look forward to these expanded transit options for our residents in the near future.
• We estimate that this project will stimulate 21,000 new jobs, 6,000 new homes, and $1.1 billion in transit-oriented urban development.
• Our work continues on making the GO Lakeshore East Extension a reality, after many years of planning.
• And almost a decade since an approved environmental assessment confirmed a preferred route north of Highway 401.
• These stations will drive economic revitalization in several key areas, while supporting active transportation within our communities.
• This investment is expected to have a positive economic impact on our communities for the next 50 years.

City of Oshawa

• General Motors Canada announced a new agreement between GM and Unifor to bring an estimated $1 billion to $1.3 billion investment and 1,400 to 1,700 hourly jobs back to Oshawa.
• I would be remised not to mention the amazing work GM has done in Oshawa to create millions of masks for the Government.
• Durham Region’s automotive sector has been at the forefront of innovation for over a century, continuously innovating with advanced new solutions.
• With this new investment, combined with GM’s new Autonomous Vehicle Test Track, GM and Unifor have made it clear:
• They intend to grow and maintain their position as key players in advanced mobility in Ontario. 

City of Pickering

• The Province’s recent decision to support the Durham Live development will is certainly a great economic driver for Durham Region.
• Durham Live will bring approximately 10,000 jobs to Durham Region in total once completed.
• Durham Live will become the premier entertainment and tourism district east of Yonge Street, and one of Ontario’s top destinations for fun and excitement.  

Airport Lands

The Pickering Airport and the surrounding federal lands are yet another great future economic development opportunity—one that we hope to see develop in the coming years.

A recent KPMG study that — among other findings — highlighted the opportunity to build a specialty passenger and industrial airport on the Pickering lands. The Regions of York and Durham — together with the City of Pickering — continue to analyze the implications of that recommendation to help create a clear, long-term vision for the airport lands and identify a path forward in this long-running discussion.

We know that a new specialty passenger or industrial airport in the eastern GTA would be a game changer for our local economies — and crucial to post-COVID recovery. However, large, complex infrastructure projects like airports aren’t built overnight. If we’re going to be ready to meet future demand, we need to start planning today. We need to come together as a community and work collaboratively with the GTAA to align our priorities and get to work.

We will continue to work on the removal of the tolls on the 412 and the 418.

Kabota  

Kubota Canada Ltd. (KCL) construction of its new facility in Pickering, is looking at an opening this year. It includes a new 50-acre, 565,000 square foot campus to serve Canadian customers well into the future.

It will and employ 200 employees this new head office. Located in Pickering’s new Innovation Corridor, the new building will offer an exceptional new training facility and consolidated warehouse to support their growing dealers servicing the Canadian market.

Scugog

We are continuing to support the future growth of Scugog, with projects like the future capacity expansion of both the Port Perry Water system and the Water Street Pumping Station.

Uxbridge

The major Uxbridge culvert project keeps progressing. Crews have completed installing culvert sections north of, and across from, Brock Street, and have re-opened Brock Street West. I know many of you are excited to see that project to completion, and I am right there with you.

Whitby – Amazon

• Amazon announced a 354,000-square-foot facility in the Town of Whitby, with hundreds of full and part-time jobs
• Opening Of Nordic Spa and the estimate 150,000 visitors it will attract annually.

With everything I’ve mentioned here today, it’s clear that Durham Region has built a well-deserved reputation as an innovative community.

We are known for our ability to adapt and solve big problems.

We will continue to showcase these strengths, long after this crisis is over, while we continue to grow to be the greatest region in Canada.

Yesterday’s days budget had a number of announcements that will benefit the region. Monies for broadband, long-term care, small business and the pandemic recovery. I would like to thank the province and federal government for their support and we will continue to make sure that Durham region voice is heard.

I’d like to close by saying thank you.

I want everyone here to know that the Region understands the importance of the work you do in supporting and fueling our economy.  

Thank you for all that you do, thank you for listening, and I’d be pleased to take any questions.