Stouffville Trade Centre I have been receiving many calls with respect to the proposed North American Trade Centre. Earlier today I read with interest as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced from China that the North American Trade Centre would proceed in Stouffville and that it would result in the creation of over 800 jobs, in her opinion. My position, however, remains the same today as it has from the start of the discussion surrounding this proposal. I am not at all convinced that this is in the long-term interest of our Town and the surrounding region. The trade centre itself is a hub for the export of Canadian jobs. Lets be clear - the purpose of this proposed trade centre is not assist local manufacturers in any way. It will not help Canadian manufacturers sell products in foreign markets and it will limit their ability to sell products here, at home. While it is true that in the short-term this will have a positive impact on the local tax base, this will be done at the expense of manufacturers across the region. While it is vital that communities like ours provide opportunities to balance the tax base between residential and other sources the town should work to encourage local businesses to invest in Stouffville to reduce the pressure on residential taxpayers. With regard to the supposed local job creation, what the proponents of this trade centre have not advertised was that I was approached with a request to facilitate the approval of hundreds of foreign workers required to open and operate the trade centre. I can assure Stouffville residents, especially those struggling to find work, that I will do no such thing. This proposal, in my opinion, does nothing to assist southern Ontario manufacturers at a time when we are slowly seeing improvements in that sector and very little to positively benefit our local economy. Our federal government has championed access to foreign markets; in fact our trade deals have given Canadian manufacturers, farmers, and other important sectors of the economy access to massive markets around the world while at the same time opening up our economy for appropriate balanced foreign investment but this proposal is most certainly not balanced. This trade centre will have a negative impact on local manufacturers, will negatively impact the towns ability to attract new business and will do nothing to give Canadian business reciprocal access to foreign markets. To be clear this trade centre is being built specifically to encourage Canadian business to source products from a foreign market at the expense of our own manufacturers. While our government is opening new markets, reducing taxes and providing incentives for our manufacturing sector to compete and succeed, the Ontario Liberals are exporting jobs, increasing taxes, and have mismanaged the energy sector in Ontario to the point that skyrocketing prices for electricity are driving away business investment and hurting Canadian families. The Wynne governments support for this project in particular, is yet another example of their uninformed and short-sighted economic policies. I remain skeptical and seriously disappointed with the proposal and I strongly encourage the new Whitchurch-Stouffville Council to reconsider its options. See Listing Below century21.ca/Property/ON/L4A_0K2/Stouffville/YiWu_Trading_Centre_-_Whitchurch
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 18:41:18 +0000
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