​Passenger rail service to Peterborough and beyond has cleared another stage toward construction.
 
Transport Canada announced on July 20 that the Request for Qualifications it issued back in April had concluded and three proponents were selected as eligible to bid on the upcoming Request for Proposals.
 
The project will link Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montréal, Trois-Rivières, and Québec City with regular passenger rail service on dedicated passenger lines. It will require hundreds of kilometres of new track, refurbishment of old rail beds, new or improved crossings at every road it crosses, agreements with property owners, new stations, and a lot of planning. Creating a proposal for a project of this scale will require significant resources, which is why each of the three proponents are conglomerates made up of large construction and transportation industry companies.
 
The following groups have been invited to move to the Request for Proposals (RFP) stage:
• Cadence (CDPQ Infra, SNC-Lavalin, Systra Canada, Keolis Canada)
• Intercity Rail Developers (Intercity Development Partners, EllisDon Capital, Kilmer Transportation, First Rail Holdings, Jacobs, Hatch, CIMA+, First Group, RATP Dev Canada, Renfe Operadora)
• QConnexiON Rail Partners (Fengate, John Laing, Bechtel, WSP Canada, Deutsche Bahn)
 
Next up will be one of the most exciting phases in the project: Request for Proposals. Expected to launch this September, proponents will be expected to draw up their plan to meet the goals of VIA HFR and Transport Canada with a technically and commercially feasible solution that includes both a business and management plan. The proposals should answer a lot of the big questions about this project, including: cost, where the lines will run, whether there will be high-speed sections, construction timelines, whether any additional towns/cities will get a stop, where the line will connect to Toronto, and whether the lines will twin alongside freight and include much-needed freight line refurbishment.
 
Additionally, the project will be required to meet reconciliation goals, as per Transport Canada:
“Advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples is a priority for the Government of Canada, and this is why early engagement with Indigenous communities is already underway. As part of the RFQ process, respondents were required to demonstrate their capacity to work with the government to create mutually beneficial, socio-economic development opportunities for Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous reconciliation is critical to the success of the HFR project and will be integrated in all phases of the project.”
 
The government expects to evaluate the proposal submissions in summer of 2024. Following that, a case will be made to our federal government to fund it. Considering the years and hundreds of millions of dollars that will have already been spent at that point, it should be a choice between different business models and levels of service. Ideally, the business plan will show a high return on investment. Afterall, VIA’s big push for this project and its first dedicated passenger tracks is that they will be able to provide a higher level of service, which should equate to much higher return on investment and push the crown corporation toward profitability.
 
As well, this project promises to move us forward in fighting climate change. The proposals should lay out a case for the amount of emissions they will help us cut while improving intercity connectivity. The rail network should be electric (or at least almost all electric), providing people with sustainable and environmentally-friendly transportation.
 
We still have a long way to go before passenger trains will stop in Peterborough, but we have come a long way in the last few years. If you want to read up a bit more on the history of how we got here, check out our Voice of Business column from March 1.

​Canada’s labour crunch is showing signs that it’s beginning to ease up.
 
Labour data from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Labour Force Survey June 2023 shows a slight increase in unemployment, gains in job growth in Ontario, and the slowing of wage growth. 
 
Marwa Abdou, Senior Research Director at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, states:
 
“Canada’s labour market is turning a corner with June’s data. Coming in at the highest level in over a year, Canada’s unemployment rate edged up to 5.4%. We’re also seeing average hourly wages coming off the boil, with their slowest growth in over a year.
 
However, the headline jobs number was strong, exceeding market expectations with a gain of 60K jobs (vs. 20K consensus), driven by full-time employment.
 
Overall, the market is showing signs of strength and resilience, although wage growth is moderating while still remaining high.”
 
Last summer, unemployment hung at a near-record low of 4.9%. The jump to 5.4% represents a 0.2% increase from May and the highest level in over a year.
 
Meanwhile, the number of people working is increasing with a gain of 60,000 jobs. This job growth comes with an increase in full-time employment. The Labour Force Survey notes that much of the job gains are among men with employment of women largely staying the same through June.
 
The biggest changes in jobs by sector are:
• Wholesale and retail trade (+33K)
• Manufacturing (+27K)
• Health care and social assistance (+21K)
• Transportation and warehousing (+10K)
• Construction (-14K)
• Education (-14K)
• Agriculture (-6K)
 
While the jobs gains are welcome news, especially in the wholesale and retail trade sector, the decline in construction, education, and agriculture will be a struggle in those sectors.
 
Only Ontario (+56K), Nova Scotia (+3.6K), and Newfoundland and Labrador (+2.3K) saw increased employment. Prince Edward Island saw a decline of 2,400 jobs while the remaining provinces stayed relatively the same.
 
According to our local Workforce Development Board Eye on the Labour Market – June 2023 report, the top positions being posted by local employers in June were:
1. University professors and lecturers
2. Retail salespersons
3. Other customer & information services representatives
4. Home support workers, housekeepers & related occupations
5. Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations
6. Retail and wholesale trade managers
7. Social and community service workers
8. Cooks
9. Administrative assistants
10. Construction Trades helpers and labourers
 
Unfortunately, labour growth is one of the factors cited by the Bank of Canada in its recent decision to further hike its Overnight Lending Rate by 0.25 basis points to 5%. Sitting at 3.4% in May, Inflation is down from its peak, but not as low as the bank would like.
 
While last month’s labour data is largely positive for most businesses, the current economy and labour market is impacting different sectors and business models disproportionately. Rising interest rates and inflation are putting added pressure on businesses, but hopefully increased access to labour will help ease that burden. 

The cost of housing is impacting communities of all sizes across Ontario. It’s limiting the buying power of households, impacting businesses’ ability to attract and retain talent, and exacerbating homelessness rates throughout the province.
 
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) recently released Home Stretched: Tackling Ontario's Housing Affordability Crisis Through Innovative Solutions and Partnerships, outlining opportunities for the private, public, and non-profit sectors to explore innovative partnerships and approaches to address housing affordability and supply, and recommendations to build on successful models. The OCC report is in partnership with Desjardins, Cadillac Fairview, and the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario. It builds on research from a series of regional housing affordability roundtables with a diverse range of housing sector stakeholders.
 
The Government of Ontario has committed to building 1.5 million new homes by 2031 to help mitigate this crisis. This goal will require strategic action and significant collaboration across sectors and all levels of government. It will require the public, private and non-profit sectors to work together.
 
The housing crisis in Ontario has reached a critical point, with significant challenges related to both affordability and supply. Peterborough has not been immune to these pressures, as rising housing costs are impacting many of our businesses' ability to attract and retain labour.  At the same time, higher housing costs leave less income available to spend on other goods and services, which directly affects our community’s long-term economic growth.
 
The executive summary from the report sums up a lot about the current situation:
While distinct, housing supply and affordability challenges are mutually reinforcing: as mid-high income earners are priced out of the real estate market, they are increasingly occupying market rental housing for longer, contributing to low vacancy rates and rising rental rates. This puts additional downward pressure on the limited supply of more affordable, non-market housing options, where waitlists can reach up to 12 years across the province, further compounding the homelessness crisis. At the same time, social and economic pressures, such as inflation and supply chain challenges, are contributing to rising costs for housing development (which has not kept pace with demand), while hindering mobility along the housing continuum.
 
The OCC report highlights some key statistics:
• 211,419 households on social housing waitlists
• Provincial rental vacancy rate of 1.8% (3% is considered healthy)
• The average house price is now 11.5 times annual household income
• Rent has increased by 17.1% over the last year, now sitting at an average of $2,401
• 22,000+ construction job vacancies
• 68% of organizations in Ontario continue to report labour shortages in their respective industries
• 1.85 million additional units would be needed in Ontario beyond what is already being built or in the pipeline to restore housing affordability
 
The OCC policy brief provides all levels of government and industry with recommendations under the following themes: Labour and Demographics, the Housing Continuum, and Infrastructure and Land Use Planning.
 
The report has 34 recommendations, including:
• Continue to establish and deliver on inclusive workforce development and immigration strategies to increase the labour pool needed to build more housing.
• Incentivize the development and preservation of affordable housing options along the continuum, including purpose-built rentals, missing middle, student, non-profit, cooperative, and supportive housing.
• Support the development and expansion of innovative technologies, data tools, retrofitting, building conversions, as well as mixed-use and climate-resilient green housing.
 
Housing is at the root of a lot of issues we’re facing in Ontario. It’s contributing to the rising cost of living, limiting labour mobility, and leaving people without homes altogether. For the sake of our communities, we need to encourage our governments to work with the private and non-profit sectors to enact a wide range of policies to address our current housing crunch. The Home Stretched report is a good place to start.
 

Technology is continually changing business. 
Over the last year, artificial intelligence (AI) has grown in its ability and accessibility to the average person and business. It has caused us to re-think what can be automated, how we shape our customer experience, and how we manage our teams. 

Many of us have typically viewed automation from a more physical sense. We have machines that weld, paint, and drive heavy equipment by themselves. Now, it seems technology is coming for the creative tasks. At a recent event with local manufacturers and supply chain businesses, automation was a popular topic with a lot of it focused on artificial intelligence taking on administrative and creative work. AI is streamlining training, reporting, and administration. One manufacturing representative noted that there will always be jobs for people that work with their hands — it’s the office side of the business where jobs are being replaced by machines. 

Chatbots are quickly becoming a regular point of engagement for customers as businesses are looking to save money and improve efficiency. In a time when many businesses are operating with fewer staff than they would like due to challenges attracting talent — efficiency is everything. 

Hootsuite put together an article for Digital Main Street called 10 Ways an AI Customer Service Chatbot Can Help Your Business. Their suggestions for including AI Chatbots in a business include: 

1. Provide customer support in multiple languages 
2. Answer repeat FAQs and save your team time 
3. Gather customer demographic information 
4. Personalized shopping support 
5. Convert deals and upsell 
6. Anticipate trends 
7. Book in-store appointments 
8. Improve customer wait times 
9. Improve customer retention 
10. Provide a consistent user experience 

The Hootsuite report includes the benefits of using AI for customer support, describing it as: “You can think of AI as one of your star customer support team members — they’re always available, never complain, and are hyper-organized”. Ultimately, AI allows you to support your customers at all hours while meeting their accessibility needs and language of choice, allowing your team to focus on other tasks. 

The name getting a lot of the attention these days is ChatGPT, but it’s a quickly growing sector with a lot of options and different companies looking to offer the latest and greatest innovation. ChatGPT was recently purchased by Microsoft and included as part of their search engine, Bing, for free. 

We asked the AI chatbot on Bing how businesses can use AI and it came up with its own explanation: 

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an essential tool for businesses in recent years. AI can help businesses automate and optimize routine processes and tasks, which can save time and money. It can also help businesses make faster decisions based on outputs from cognitive technologies. AI can help businesses improve their productivity and operational efficiencies by reducing the time employees spend performing a task. This can lead to more work being done in less time, enhancing the company’s overall productivity. 

AI can also help businesses reach a larger audience and establish long-term customer relationships. This can create customer loyalty, leading to a continuous revenue flow for the company. With time, AI is getting more sophisticated and powerful. So, it’s high time you ditch your legacy systems and integrate AI into your business operations.  

However, it is important to note that there are risks associated with AI as well. Mistakes can cause massive damage to a company’s infrastructure and reputation…Cyberattacks are extremely common today, so businesses need to be aware of the vulnerability of their systems to cyberattacks.” 

The availability, accessibility, and accuracy of AI is changing the business landscape. Businesses looking to tap into better use of technology can get free help from our Digital Main Street team. Get in touch with the Chamber and we’ll set you up with an expert.