Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Grant Humes


One billion people around the world are now connected through the Internet.

One trillion devices around the world are now connected to the Internet.

Those are just a couple of the fascinating insights I got today from Dan Fortin, President of IBM Canada. He gave a very inspiring speech at our latest Technology Innovators Breakfast, speaking about the role of technology and remote working in changing our world, and how Toronto's ICT community can grasp the resulting opportunities through more collaboration and innovation.

As he pointed out, the 170 people in the room are sometimes competitors, but also partners, suppliers and customers. The challenge, and the opportunity, is for all of the players to take and share some risks together for the success of the entire sector in Toronto.

Here's a LINK to a great, detailed summary of the event from one of the attendees, Joey deVilla -- thanks, Joey!


Grant Humes is Interim President and Chief Operating Officer of the Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Grant Humes


You know you've found the right partner when your agreement is approved by about 95% of the people involved, and that's what happened last night when members of the Etobicoke Chamber of Commerce voted to integrate with the Toronto Board of Trade.

It was a great atmosphere at the Etobicoke facility - everyone knows we're moving together towards a better future with more opportunities and benefits for members of both organizations.

Seven years after the city of Toronto amalgamated, the voice of business in this city has been unified -- all local chambers of commerce are now united under the Toronto Board of Trade banner.

So, what does this mean?

Well, for members of the Etobicoke Chamber, it means you are now full-fledged members of the Toronto Board of Trade, with access to all of our facilities, discounts on all of our events/products/services, huge new networking opportunities and more. You also have free membership in the World Trade Centre Toronto with access to the WTC network of nearly 300 business centres around the world!

It also means you can continue to come to the same convenient location for great business services, local networking and the signature events like the Business Excellence Awards and annual charity golf tournament.

For all Board of Trade members, it means we now operate at FIVE locations across the city. You can use the convenient Etobicoke facility on Bloor Street West (click HERE for a map) and join in with their networking and other events. We're all going to benefit from having the experienced, successful business people from the Etobicoke Chamber joining in with our programs.

As an organization, we're now bigger and stronger than before, with a unified voice right across the city. We're even better positioned to contribute to our members' success, and to serve, unite and represent Toronto's business community.


Grant Humes is Interim President and Chief Operating Officer of the Toronto Board of Trade.

Posted by: Glen Stone


Most people take it as given that someone's deeds count for more than their words. After all, it is easy to say that you will increase your sales, create a better product or lose those 20 extra pounds, but it is a lot harder to actually do those things.

However, can there be instances where a person's words are more important than their actions? Here's an interesting argument for one such case, from the Speechwriter's Slant blog -- Thomas Jefferson, an American founding father who both owned slaves and wrote inspiring words of freedom (i.e. the Declaration of Independence) that still echo today.

Which is more important - his ownership of slaves or his inspiration to generations to seek freedom and equality? Deeds or words?


Glen Stone is Public Affairs Manager for the Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Cecil Bradley

A recent column by John Barber in the Globe and Mail made several statements about the state of affairs in our city that the Board of Trade (and others) found to be ... well ... surprising.

Here's the letter to the editor we sent in response (it hasn't been printed as of this posting):


November 21, 2006

The Editor
The Globe and Mail
Via e-mail

To the Editor:

The old Superman comics raised the idea of a ‘Bizarro’ Earth, orbiting on the other side of the Sun, where parallel people lived very different lives to ours.

Perhaps it was the Bizarro Toronto that John Barber was describing in his recent column; it certainly bears little resemblance to the city of that name on this planet.

In this Toronto, the city is not “steadily gaining jobs”, but has lost 100,000 of them in the past 15 years, along with 10,000 employers. In this Toronto, traffic congestion is not “mainly a suburban problem”, but a $1.8 billion dollar drain on the economy and the top concern of the city’s business leaders. Growth of this Toronto’s economy has lagged behind the regional, provincial and national growth rates for the past 16 years.

Some alternative Toronto may not labour under the highest business property taxes in North America or be working with an economic development plan that is six years out of date. However, Toronto, Ontario, Canada is.

Yours truly,

[signed]

Cecil Bradley
Vice-President of Policy


Cecil Bradley is Vice President of Policy for the Toronto Board of Trade.

Posted by: Glen Stone

Here's the text of our media release last night, reacting to Toronto's municipal election results:

The Toronto Board of Trade tonight offered its congratulations to Mayor David Miller and all City Councillors who were elected in today's municipal voting, saying the Mayor and new Council have earned a four-year mandate to tackle the city's challenges.

"Tonight is a time of celebration for the Mayor and Councillors," said Board of Trade Chair Becky McKinnon, "But tomorrow morning, our new city leaders must start facing the challenges of running Toronto, and many require immediate attention."

McKinnon said the new government should have five top priorities*:

1. Reduce traffic congestion and improve transit and transportation systems
2. Improve Toronto's business competitiveness in order to attract and retain jobs
3. Enhance Toronto's quality of life through targeted community investments
4. Operate municipal government in a more accountable, efficient and effective way
5. Establish benchmakrs that measure success in key areas by results, not spending

"These are not simple challenges," acknowledges McKinnon, noting that the City must also deal with its unsustainable finances, including a potential $518 million gap in the 2007 budget, "This term of Council will be a test of leadership as well as an opportunity toput Toronto's economic future back on track."

* See 'Action Agenda for the Next Mayor and City Council of Toronto' at www.bot.com


Glen Stone is Public Affairs Manager for the Toronto Board of Trade.

Posted by: Becky Mckinnon

When the City of Toronto puts its annual budget together, city staff produces a mountain of paper – reports, charts and forecasts that explain quite well where the city’s finances are going. It’s a huge improvement from only a few years ago.

Those papers often reward a careful reader; right there on page 153 of Volume 4 of the 2006 Budget Overview & Program Summaries is a number that will raise your eyebrows. It says that, if the city wants to reach its target for the 2007 budget, it will have to come up with an extra $518 million.

In other words, the next Mayor and City Council need to find more than half a billion dollars in cost savings, new revenues or both if they want to balance next year’s budget.

Strangely, this huge number, and the untenable fiscal situation behind it, have NOT been front and centre in this municipal election campaign.

That’s why we issued an open letter yesterday, challenging all municipal candidates to tell voters how they would tackle the budget gap in the short term, and Toronto’s unsustainable finances in the long term.

Part of the answer (the easy part) is getting more money from the provincial and federal governments. The province, in particular, owes Toronto big-time from the 1998 downloading of services on to municipalities, forcing our city to fund things like social services from property taxes.

However, even if Queen’s Park takes back financial responsibility for those services, it will fill just $299 million of the 2007 gap, leaving a whopping $219 million to go. Remember, that’s just to hold the line at the 2006 level. If the city wants to spend more next year, the gap will be even bigger.

The difficult truth is that the city has to shoulder its share of the responsibility for the unsustainable fiscal path it is now on, and do its part to solve the problem. Without fundamental changes in the way our municipal government manages its finances, we’re going to continue to see enormous shortfalls like this every year and have to go begging to Queen’s Park for more special bailouts.

You can follow the link to read our media release, which has a backgrounder explaining some of the options City Hall can use to get out of this mess. The most important thing you can do, as a Torontonian, is to demand that your Council and Mayoral candidates answer the question - "What will you do about the $518 million budget gap?"


Becky Mckinnon is Chair of the Toronto Board of Trade