Table of contents
No headers
Oct. 19 2008, 11:00-11:50 am
What other options or futures are there for one industry towns?
RYAN
Don:
ran photographic convention\arena
lots of great reaction
Mike Burton:
WIndsor-Essex Development Commission
left for 28 years
natural place to work from
business to attract new investment to the area
Dennis Dowkes:
Associate VP of St. Clair
although been connections to windsor
came down for floating casino
older sister and hubby started careers here 40 years ago.. didn't care for city and left
Erie Street
don't know what it was like before, but now it's great
when I looked at the topic
Kara Kilpatrick:
born and raised in Windsor
raised family and worked in Windsor
artist - have to make art
sitting here thinking not a "single business that still exists"
history of closures and things evaporating
finally left windsor about 7 years ago
chatham perhaps worse
come back to windsor.. and wait, what used to be there?
Mary Bailey:
36 years as school teacher
auto industry through up ands downs
over 36 years, most kids went into auto industry or related field
focus on movable skills
16,000 lose their jobs;
James Mays
automotive historian
moved from Quebec
my interest is
hosting a workshop
history, heritage and tourism: lived in most parts of the country
has everything that montreal and toronto has except
I want to see it grow, thrive, and survive.
Branka:
Royal Fitzgroup in Windsor
Moving business to Mexico; but hopes to hold business
only 20 years in business
looking for
Leamington
INTEGRATED Windsor-Essex County
losing time pleasing big threes
want to bring community, pay taxes, my family is my employees.. i want to take care of them
have potential.. stop talking, start doing
Chris Holt:
laid off autoworker - not looking for pity
born and raised in Windsor
level of discourse is great
don't want to hope and wait for Ford and Chrysler to make an investment
Rob McGuffin:
chrysler worker, union trader
tourism, who comes over here
manufacturing sector in windsor as well
energy sector - solar power?
can't ignore
Chrysler & manufacturing sector
Gerry Graham:
62 years old, retired
all for retired
industry doesn't want to come to windsor
five plants
top end of average.. can we take plants for 15-18 dollars an hour
we support the auto sector
the more they make, the more they put back into
fair trade agreement: note: this is a theme of the NDP
IDEAS:
experiental learning?
colleges and universities are attempting to anticipate jobs.. caught in difficult situation
you can create advanced programs.. but nobody will come
the same happens with the economy
hung hat on automotive
Mike: impediemnts
balancing protecting core business while getting new ideas in
we ARE goign to get that diversification - solar farm will take 200 jobs, keep 8 going long-term
aerospace.. mostly in montreal
we're never going back to the 30 dollars per hour for the car lines
become smarter, change industries:
aggressive marketing on existing industries
don't have time to make shift.. rising markets equal rising competition
5000 out of people out work
ontario has no content requirement
25% Canadian content seems to be the federal standard an some Ontario provincial expenditures adhere to that level.
CAW is urging Ontario government to double the national standard
gov't can adjust regulations to provide level playing field
local politicians are waiting for the c
1) if there were a "25 year Manufacturing Plan for Ontario", designed by all the relevant stakeholders, then the colleges and universities would also be able to plan better
2) we are the ones who decide what we want to build, what we will consider important enough to build for ourselves, and THEN we tell our politicians and THEN they earn their salaries by figuring out how to bring together the right people to talk: those who will invest, those who will design/build/market, and perhaps those who will provide the incentives...what do we want to build?
3) let's assume, for the sake of the colleges and universities, that we are in fact PLANNING TO CONTINUE TO HAVE MANUFACTURING in this this province, and that of course it will be important to train Canadian students in technical and mechanical skills, engineering, but also in some of the more "old fashioned" trades that we had when travel was not easy and there was a diverse local economy. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker (and all that :)
I think a 25 year plan is intriguing because it grapples with sustainability for at least a generation. Though the length of the timeline poses major challenges, I'm sure. But has it been done anywhere for anything? How would it be done for Windsor if some AgendaCampers wanted to tackle it? What resources might be needed in this space?
To your point 2), what's not working with the current way manufacturing decisions are made and implemented? How might it be improved?