Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Becky McKinnon


Life would certainly be easier if you owned the legendary crystal ball that allows its owner to see the future, from mortgage rates to horse race results. Predicting the future too often seems more like consulting the Magic 8-Ball we had as children: "Answer cloudy: Try again later."
However, there are also things called safe bets.

In that spirit, here are some of the big questions it is safe to predict that the City of Toronto will be facing in the New Year:

That's the beginning of my column today in National Post. You can read the rest of it HERE.


Becky McKinnon is Chair of the Toronto Board of Trade.

Posted by: Glen Stone


Sure, lists like this are an annual tradition, but they're also a good idea. Looking back over the last 12 months not only helps you remember important developments, but gets you thinking about what we've learned from them, and how we can take those lessons into the year ahead.

So, from the Toronto Board of Trade perspective, here are the top stories of the year (links will take you to media releases and other information):

Gridlock & Transit
· Queen’s Park finally creates a Greater Toronto Transportation Authority and both Ottawa and Ontario announce increased funding for infrastructure, including public transit.
· Traffic congestion emerges as the number one election issue in a Board of Trade poll of Toronto business executives.
· The Board calls for governance changes at the TTC, including recommending a role for independent expert citizens on the Commission board.

Elections
· Stephen Harper wins federally and brings in long-needed business tax cuts, but draws business anger over his reversal on the income trust issue.
· David Miller is re-elected in Toronto as first Mayor to govern under the new City of Toronto Act. He faces a broad range of issues armed with a new mandate and expanded powers.

Fiscal Gaps
· A Board of Trade report shows Toronto’s growing fiscal gap with the federal government has hit an unsustainable $6.6 billion a year.
· City of Toronto figures show a $518 million shortfall looming for the city’s 2007 budget.

Business Taxes
· Toronto continues to increase its business property taxes, already the highest in the GTA and among the highest in North America
· The province fails to reduce its business property taxes, which are 28% higher in Toronto than in the GTA
· The federal government reduces business taxes, along with the GST, and harmonizes corporate taxes with the Ontario government

Island Airport
· The airport is revived as a business and political issue with the expansion of commercial operations.
· The Board of Trade conducts a six-month study, concluding that the Airport contributes to Toronto but needs to fit in better with the city, and that it is time to end the Airport feud.

Expo Bid
· The city, provincial and federal governments fail to agree on financial backing for a Toronto bid for the 2015 World Expo, killing the bid just before its deadline. The Board of Trade calls it “a failure to launch”.

Executive Raises
· The Board of Trade’s annual Executive Compensation Survey finds Toronto business executives received average pay raises of 4.8% last year, and more than half were given performance bonuses.

Changes At The Board
· The Youth ONE campaign creates 100 jobs for young people from vulnerable neighbourhoods and helps spur increased partnerships.
· Glen Grunwald resigns as President to go to the New York Knicks.
· The Etobicoke Chamber of Commerce integrates with the Toronto Board of Trade, uniting all local chambers under the Board’s banner.

What will the top stories be in 2007? Tune in next week for a take on that question from our Chair, Becky McKinnon ...


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

Posted by: Glen Stone


Mark Twain warned us that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. In today's Internet-driven world, lies and scams can travel around the world in seconds, leaving the truth even further behind than ever.

When it comes to on-line scams, knowledge is the best protection. So, courtesy of Consumer Affairs, follow THIS LINK for a list of the current top ten Internet scams of the year.


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

Posted by: Glen Stone


Back in the early days of the United States, journalist John Soule advised young Americans to seek their fortunes in the developing western part of the nation with his call, "Go West, Young Man!" (Horace Greeley made that quotation famous, but did not originate it)

According to this morning's featured speaker at the Toronto Board of Trade, GE International President Nani Beccalli, today's young fortune-seekers might want to look to the east, i.e. Asia.

In a speech that covered the world as effortlessly and effectively as the globe-trotting Beccalli himself, the self-described 'foreign affairs minister for General Electric' told a capacity audience that the world was undergoing a major transfer of wealth from the developed nations to those rich in natural resources, including human resources.

While predicting that China's growing influence would soon peak (remember the early 1980's, Beccalli asked, when everyone thought Japan would soon run the world?), he forecast that this century would belong to the Asian continent, "from Mount Sinai to Mount Fuji". The rest of the world, Beccalli concluded, could only benefit by embracing this shift, not opposing it.


SHAMELESS PLUG: To find out about more great speakers and events, check out our online Events Calendar.


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

Posted by: Becky McKinnon

Fact: there is an airport, the Toronto City Centre Airport (TCCA or ‘island airport’), off Toronto’s waterfront.

Fact: there is a city just a few hundred metres away from that airport’s runways.

Those two facts are not about to change. Heated rhetoric, lawsuits, threats and millions of taxpayer dollars haven’t erased them. It’s time for the two parties in the ongoing dispute over the airport, the City government and the Toronto Port Authority, to face that reality.

That's the opening of my opinion piece in today's Toronto Sun, based on our six-month study of the TCCA. We have the entire text of the article on our website, where you will also find our media release and the report itself.

The point is that the two sides in this dispute have a choice - waste more time and energy dragging each other down, or end their feud and, by compromising a bit on each side, turn the airport into a more positive contributor to our city.


Becky McKinnon is Chair of the Toronto Board of Trade

Posted by: Alon Marcovici


Every business wants its advertising to be effective in driving both sales and brand awareness. Advertising and marketing experts labour over the look, feel and content of ads to create positive reactions from their target audiences.

But, what if it turns out that the content of your ads really doesn't matter much? That's the possibility raised by this interesting article, citing a European study that finds appeals to emotion, not content, are what make advertising work.

What I find most interesting is the conclusion that the most successful advertisers are companies who are selling the least tangible items. In other words, they're saying that it is easier to succeed selling a nebulous 'good feeling' than a solid product or service.

Not sure if I agree, but well worth reading ...


Alon Marcovici is Chief Marketing Officer for the Toronto Board of Trade.