Mayor Bonnette's 2021 Chamber Speech

Hello everyone and thank you for having me again. It is truly a pleasure to be here in person this year – as compared to 2020’s virtual presentation. Before I begin, I would like to recognize my Council colleagues who are here today – please stand when I call your name: Please hold your applause until I am done or no Christmas lunch for you! Councillor Clark Somerville, Councillor Mike Albano, Councillor Jon Hurst, Councillor Ted Brown, Councillor Bryan Lewis, Councillor Jane Fogal, Councillor Wendy Farrow-Reed, Councillor Moya Johnson, Councillor Bob Inglis and Councillor Ann Lawlor.

I would also like to recognize our Chief Administrative Officer Chris Mills who has done an incredible job in leading staff through a tumultuous and ever-changing time as the municipality responds to the impacts of the pandemic. Also, our new President of Halton Hills Hydro Scott Knapman who has replaced a familiar face to the chamber, long time President Art
Skidmore.

Now those of you who have heard me speak before, you know that I tend to center my remarks around a theme…And this year, I thought, what better theme than ‘adaptation’? I would imagine that this could be the mantra for all of you in this room given the measures you have had to take to combat the impact of COVID-19; to meet legislative direction from the
Province and our local health authorities and to keep your businesses afloat -- if not profitable -- through re-invention and adaptation to the current environment. We have close to 15,000 businesses here in Halton Hills employing close to 21,000. We want all of them to thrive. When you are successful we are successful. Last year at this time I reported on the many
actions that the Town had taken in response to the pandemic to support local businesses which began when I established the Economic Support and Recovery Task Force to coordinate our local COVID-19 response. I want you to know that this support has continued. In fact, since the start of the pandemic the Town undertook over 25 actions to support local
businesses.

In addition, Town staff developed a comprehensive Economic Recovery and Resiliency Action Plan and I want to give a shout out to Damian Szybalski, our Director of Economic Development and his staff who have worked tirelessly through COVID-19 to develop and deliver plans and programs. The recovery plan details short-term actions to support
immediate recovery efforts as well as investment growth actions to help sustain economic growth over the longer term.

So let me just remind you of some of the more immediate programs such as the "Al Fresco in the Hills” temporary patio program. We had several restaurants take advantage of this program and by all accounts it was a great success for those that participated, and a terrific way for restaurants to supplement their revenues. Talk about a prime example of ‘adaptation’!

We also worked on a number of initiatives with our partners here at the Chamber of Commerce and the downtown Acton and Georgetown BIAs. For example, the Georgetown BIA launched its Levy Reduction Program to reduce costs for their members. We also supported over 70 local businesses through the Digital Main Street program by providing hands-on help to develop or enhance their online and e-commerce presence. This program will help businesses now and long into the future particularly if we believe a key take-away from a 2021 survey initiated by Shopify that ‘the pandemic has amplified the consumer’s desire for convenience and immediacy’.

We have launched two editions of this program and it has been highly successful. 24 of these businesses received grants of $2,500: that’s $60,000 to help businesses in Halton Hills. After last year’s successful program, we were happy to bring this great service back again. We have assisted over 80 business improve their online presence and staff is helping 37 businesses with their grant applications. It’s interesting too, that while we have the support to launch or enhance businesses’ online presence; we are also putting effort into bringing people to Halton Hills to enjoy our natural assets, our arts and culture and heritage offerings. Tourism is an important contributor to the local economy and accounts for thousands of local jobs in retail, accommodation, food services, and the arts and culture sector. This means that about 30% of all jobs in Halton Hills relate to tourism. To support this industry, the Town launched a new ‘Visit Halton Hills’ website which has received over 9,000 views. Thanks to the Town’s Tourism Advisory Committee for supporting our efforts to amplify this sector’s economic benefits.

Much of our tourism is grounded in the local experience – friends, family and visitors taking day trips. It will be interesting to see what happens with travel when we are out of the pandemic – I have heard different stories. Surveys conducted in the US and Europe found that the pandemic has changed the way people travel and 32 percent of consumers indicated that
they expect to stay more local and go on more domestic trips.

One of the things that people enjoy in Halton Hills is arts and culture and in fact, Halton Hills has a terrific reputation as an artisan community! A vibrant arts and culture scene is an important contributor to quality of life, and a key factor that drives investment decisions. Not surprisingly, people want to set up businesses and work in communities that offer a high quality of life. We are focused on making Halton Hills that top-of-mind community to live, work, play, create and, very importantly, invest.

Our annual fall Culture Days had over 70 events this year and this type of success would not be possible without the heavy participation of our local artists. I find this all the more remarkable given that everyone working in the arts and culture sector were terribly hit hard by the pandemic. We should be proud of our Culture Days as Halton Hills was picked 6th all across Canada as the best and third across Canada from a Town our size.

To support this sector, the Town held two COVID-19 Arts & Culture Forums to identify needs, share experiences and provide details on the recovery and support programs. Since then, Cultural Services has held regular Arts & Culture Meet-ups to provide networking and peer-to-peer learning opportunities for the sector. We also created a new commissioning project, “The Artist Next Door”, for artists and arts and cultural groups to create new work in any artistic discipline that engages the residents of Halton Hills. This project has supported 14 artists, cultural groups and creative businesses over the past 2 years.

Also, in 2020 we launched a new professional development program Artrepreneur Halton Hills, for artists, creative entrepreneurs, and cultural not-for-profit staff and board members, to help equip them with vital business skills needed to grow their creative businesses.

The Town’s response to the pandemic is by no means over. Like businesses everywhere, there have been immediate concerns that needed to be prioritized and now, as we are in the fourth wave of the pandemic, we have shifted to the next phase of our response work plan. I read an article that spoke to the experiences of different industries throughout this pandemic. The article noted that despite the vast differences, there were common themes – and the number one theme is
that people adapt. I know this is true with our Halton Hills’ businesses – I have heard it from many of you who have contacted me over the past year or so and I have seen it first-hand with those whom I have visited.

The other theme in the article I read, is that when the crisis has passed, people bounce back and I thought to myself, how true this is! Though we remain in a pandemic with all the prescriptive protocols that this entails, we are bouncing back! We are building on the initiatives that were first launched, continuing with successful programs and leveraging our
partnerships.

In September, Councillors, myself and Chamber and BIA members took an active role in the annual ‘Shop Local Shop The Hills’ campaign and I visited many of the stores in our downtowns and spoke to shop owners. I can tell you, there is a feeling of hope. Several initiatives were launched to raise awareness about the importance of shopping locally including a contest, an advertising program, reusable tote bags, window decals and a social media business-owner spotlight campaign. As I continue to tell people, it doesn’t take much for us to help small businesses recover – all we need to do is shop local!!

Shop Local is a key part of the Town’s Economic Recovery and Resiliency Plan. This is based upon three pillars:

• Information Awareness and Engagement
• Business Resilience and Growth and
• Advocacy on Key Issues.

At its core, the plan is designed to help businesses stay open, as well as become more resilient over time, through a mix of new, modified and preexisting actions many of which I have already spoken to. Two initiatives in the plan that I have not yet addressed are the Economic Recovery Roundtables and the Community Improvement Plan.

The Economic Recovery Roundtables as the name suggests, are intended to engage key business stakeholders in focused discussions on economic recovery and any additional supports. Watch for more information on these in the future.

I’d also like to provide you with an update on the Community Improvement Plan. Many of you will know that this plan encourages and supports private sector investment and revitalization throughout Halton Hills by providing financial incentives to eligible projects. We have funded the program since 2014 and the response from the business community
has been excellent. The Town received significant uptake on these incentive programs with staff processing over 30 successful applications. Many of the investments are highly recognizable with façade and building revitalization projects and brownfield redevelopment for future use. To date, the Town has achieved over a million dollars in investments. We are nearing the completion of a comprehensive review and update of the program. This will result in a modern, targeted and effective economic development tool to guide and support the Town's economic development priorities - aligned with key
Town plans, strategies, programs, and initiatives.

The new CIP is anticipated to be in place in early 2022 and will include elements that focus on the areas of:

• Affordable Housing – Priority of council
• Storefront Revitalization & Business Support
• Accessibility
• Climate Change/Energy Efficiency
• Arts & Culture
• Brownfields
• Agri-business
• Heritage

I’d also like to talk about the Town’s Business Concierge Program that was launched in March 2021 focused on investment attraction and support for major industrial and commercial investments. Our goal is to stay competitive, maintain an ‘open for business’ approach, grow non-residential assessment and attract local jobs. The Business Concierge program does this by streamline the review and delivery of key strategic economic development leads and projects.

Our focus is on job generators, and investments in our target sectors of advanced manufacturing, food and beverage processing, clean technology, and agri-business. Through the program, eligible projects receive a ‘white-glove service’
through a single point of contact dedicated to facilitating navigation throughout the investment, development and opening process. We are actively cultivating leads and identifying key economic development opportunities. There are currently about 27 upcoming and potential investment leads/projects in the ‘Business Concierge Investment Pipeline’ that would account for well over 9 million sq. ft of leasable space and well over $1 billion in investment dollars right in our Town.

Non-residential assessment is key to the Town’s financial health as it enables the Town to efficiently deliver services that residents and businesses rely on. It helps keep tax increases relatively low and predictable. A noticeable portion of the Town’s budget is paid for with taxes collected from commercial /industrial. The Town’s Capital Program also relies on non-residential growth. A focus on attracting more industry also has the benefit of improving the Town’s residential to non-residential assessment ratio, putting the Town in a better economic and financial position. I encourage you to look up the information on the Business Concierge Program for yourself on ‘investhaltonhills.ca’ if you have a development that may qualify.

One of the objectives of the Business Concierge program is to support and supplement related strategies, including our Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Strategy. What both strategies have in common is their focus on leveraging Halton Hills’ competitive advantage, while focusing on major job generators.

Over the past year, the Town has also been implementing the FDI Strategy which is focused on elevating Halton Hills’ global competitiveness. As the world continues to emerge from under the challenges of the pandemic, we need to be competitive and showcase Halton Hills as a prime investment destination. These targeted business cases highlight Halton Hills’ investment opportunities for companies looking to expand internationally.

With Council’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2030, most aggressive target in Canada, our economic development efforts, in particular those focused on clean technology, will help us reach our ambitious goal by attracting and growing this sector so that the research and development, services, products and jobs needed for the transition to
net zero will keep the dollars in our community. We’re also working to bring new investment through our Foreign Direct Investment Program. Staff have developed a list of over 50 pre-qualified foreign company leads and participated in two international virtual fairs.

You can appreciate, COVID-19 has caused the Town to adapt our original strategies, but we continue to make significant progress. As you can see, we have continued to take proactive, decisive and coordinated action throughout the pandemic. We have collaborated with our business partners. And, together, we have made important progress. Much more remains to be done, but I am confident that we will keep moving towards a stronger, diversified and more resilient local economy.
You may have heard by now that the McGibbon Hotel project is going forward. I said two years ago at my first speech of this term, when the finances fell through, I said, “don’t worry someone will have the finances to make this work.” Thank you Amico for stepping up. This project was supported unanimously at council.

Key considerations in the staff report: Still 10 stories.

• Increasing the number of units from 125-169 – smaller units lower price
• Modest alterations to the buildings mass and terraced design

There will be some pain during construction but once it’s completed this will make Downtown Georgetown more vibrant for many years to come Another project I want to update you on is our affordable housing initiative and that is the former ambulance station at 17 Guelph St. We are making progress on this site as we have now partnered with Halton Region and
aiming to have the site planning approvals in place in the near future. Once this is completed, this will provide 14 affordable housing units.

Speaking of housing and industrial growth council had one of the longest meetings in probably history on the future growth to take us to 2050. We had many residents, developers engaged and we had meeting that started on Monday, recessed and resumed Wednesday for a total meeting of 10 hours. Some wanted to urban expansion. I brought a balanced
compromise with Councillor Jane Fogal that expanded the urban boundary by 350 ha for residential expansion. This was Georgetown hospital driven as we will need a new hospital one day and there is no place in the present urban boundary. Our vision is just not a hospital but whole medical hub that provides high end jobs plus residential. Also, another 350 ha of industrial growth to match and give a balance.

The last item I want to touch on is the Town’s budget. Every year, around this time, staff presents the budget and business plans in accordance to direction from Town Council. We have been pretty consistent, the past several years in telling staff to
adhere to a 3.9% tax increase on the Town portion of the taxes. The challenge, of course, is maintaining service delivery despite reduced revenues, higher costs and competing demands.

The budget that Town Council ultimately approved, was a 3.9% increase on the municipal rate plus a .67% levy for insurance and WSIB. As businesspeople, I’m sure you can appreciate the difficulties in managing expenditures beyond your control. I can tell you; this is where we are at with insurance premiums. The Town’s total annual cost of liability insurance premiums has grown by $1 million over a five-year period, which represents a percentage increase of approximately 258% over this same time frame. That’s ridiculous? Council is advocating against these unprecedented rate hikes, and we are supporting the recommendations put forward from the Association of Municipalities (AMO) and calling on the Province to take action.
I am hopeful that we will be able to effect change. The current insurance rates are an unsustainable burden on the tax base. Overall, the tax increase will be 2.85% combined with School and Regional taxes.

Finally - I don’t want to end on a low note, so I will end with a quote from Charles Darwin – “The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability.” Thank you everyone and stay safe!