Message from His Worship Mayor Dan Carter to Business Community Stakeholders, April 2022
Embracing the future together. This was the foundation of my recent State of the City address to the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce membership and to chart our paths forward to a fulsome economic recovery. The ability to learn from these historical moments, recover and continue to grow is founded in the opportunity to work in true partnership. Every business across the City of Oshawa is considered a partner in our community.
We have thoughtfully and intentionally cultivated a spirit of partnership with our business community by inviting its leaders in, a shift in the traditional bureaucratic process. This began in April of 2020 with the formation of the Mayor’s Economic Recovery Taskforce, which is chaired by Regional and City Councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri. The taskforce included more than 20 business leaders from across Oshawa representing a wide range of sectors and organizational sizes. We were able to hear and understand directly from the source the impacts that were being experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and institute organizational changes and advocate with an informed position.
Since the Fall of 2021, I have been meeting on a bi-weekly basis with the Chair of the Board for the Downtown Oshawa Business Alliance (D.O.B.A.) to understand the specific needs of businesses and property owners in our Downtown area and explore new opportunities to support the continued revitalization of this pivotal neighbourhood in our community.
The Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce, which represents hundreds of businesses in our great city, also meets with me on a regular basis so that we can better support the goals and opportunities of business of all size and location across Oshawa. This includes advocating for expedited utility connections to get a family-owned and operated business open sooner to continuing to highlight the importance of the GO Transit Lakeshore East Extension to Bowmanville to ensure high-quality transportation connectivity for our entire business community.
On April 4, we welcomed an investment announcement from one of our longest standing partners in the business community. GM Canada announced it will add light-duty pickup production and a third shift at the Oshawa Assembly Plant. This has created more than 2,600 new jobs in the fields of manufacturing, engineering and business since operations resumed at the assembly plant.
As we resume the opportunity to connect in person and celebrate our resilience as a community over the past two years, it is also important to highlight that the learnings of this moment in time will continue to inform the culture of partnership and service to the business community at the City of Oshawa. The commitment to continue inviting our business leaders in, actively listening to them, adapting services to meet their immediate needs and advocating from an informed position will be pillars of our service continuing forward. We are working to make it easier for you to engage with us, whether that be through social media, contacting the Economic Development team at [email protected] or 905-436-5617 or reaching me at 905-436-3311 or [email protected]. We want to hear from you, understand how we can support your recovery and celebrate your successes.
Yours truly,
Dan Carter
Mayor