www.ottawabot.ca
THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE OTTAWA BOARD OF TRADE
ISSUE NO. 4
FOCUS ON OTTAWA EAST
Businesses bet on Vanier’s future as Montreal Road revitalization breaks ground news@obj.ca
A
CONNECT!
“We saw Vanier’s proximity to downtown and knew it was only a matter of time before it was rejuvenated.” – BERNIE MYERS, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF REAL PROPERTY, THE REGIONAL GROUP, WITH KELLY RHODENIZER, THE FIRM’S DIRECTOR OF COMMERCIAL AND MULTI-FAMILY DEVELOPMENT. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
37 OBJ.CA
Dobson said he predicts that he will lose around 15 per cent of business during the revitalization project, he’s hopeful that his patrons will quickly return once work wraps up. “Vanier is going to grow and prosper and you are going to see a positive outcome,” he said. “(The Montreal Road revitalization) is going to increase economic activity and it is going to clean the neighbourhood up.”
JUNE 2019
just say they are going to put up a few planters and change the lights and call it renovated,” he said. “They are doing it right ... having a great streetscape that will be more attractive to retailers and shops, and (creating) a more attractive community for people to live in.” Some of Montreal Road’s current merchants echo those sentiments. While Finnegan’s Pub owner Drew
Advocating for business. Fuelling the future.
s the $50-million overhaul of Montreal Road gets underway, business leaders are looking ahead at how the major revitalization project can attract new businesses, shoppers and residents to Vanier. With work scheduled to break ground in May, the four-year project running between North River Road and St. Laurent Boulevard includes new sewer and water lines, as well as unsightly hydro lines being buried below ground. Most of the above-ground work will start next year and include the road being reduced from four lanes to three as well as the addition of bike lanes, larger sidewalks, public art, new community spaces and parks. The head of the Vanier BIA says she hopes the dramatic facelift will prompt more entrepreneurs and business owners to consider making Montreal Road their home, diversifying the street’s retail offerings. “The kinds of businesses that we currently see on Montreal Road aren’t exactly the mix we are hoping for – meaning that they are not the typical stores you would see on a traditional main street,” said Nathalie Carrier, executive director for the Vanier BIA. “There is no butcher, no baker, no
candlestick maker. We are hoping that the changes will bring about new developments and certainly new businesses.” For more than a decade, Vanier’s business leaders have worked to promote the neighbourhood’s affordable land prices, short distance to downtown and diverse population. Despite these efforts, Vanier has so far failed to see a wave of gentrification that’s reshaped other inner-city Ottawa neighbourhoods such as Hintonburg. However, some local businesses are making long-term investments in the community with the belief that Vanier’s time has come. In 2015, The Regional Group – an Ottawa-based property developer and manager – purchased and then revitalized a five-storey, 45,000-squarefoot office building at 214 Montreal Rd., several blocks east of the Vanier Parkway. “We saw Vanier’s proximity to downtown and knew it was only a matter of time before it was rejuvenated,” said Bernie Myers, senior vice-president of real property at The Regional Group. While he concedes that four years of construction can be a long time for merchants and other businesses, Myers said he expects the project to pay longterm dividends. “The city is wise enough to not
www.ottawabot.ca
BY CHARLIE SENACK
OTTAWA BOARD OF TRADE
THE OTTAWA BOARD OF TRADE WELCOMES ITS NEWEST MEMBERS:
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Aventine Group BeaverTails Canada Inc. Brio Strategies Inc. Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Canopy Growth Corp. CaseWare IDEA Inc. Cole Solutions Ltd. Crestcom Leadership Dreammind Entertainment Group Edward Jones Emerald Tile & Marble Ltd. Eva Wong Photography Everest Restoration (Ottawa) Ltd. Frisby Tire Co. Gees Bees Honey Co. Infinity Limousine Insurance Hotline Jaiko Cleaning Services
JUNE 2019 OBJ.CA
38
• • •
John Proctor Kaur Space Inc. Lyft Marcoon Creative Design Megan Razavi Royal LePage Merivale Vision Care Mersive Moneca Kaiser Design Build Ltd. numbercrunch Panda Vacations Inc. Premier Logistics Solutions Quest Essentials Inc. Sophia Esthetic Inc. SR Coaching Stantec Stellar Printing & Promotions SupportMyMac TELUS Business Excellence Centre The Bradley The Open Door Educational Services Vincent Dagenais Gibson LLP World Financial Group Xactly Design & Advertising
Membership in Ottawa’s single largest independent business organization has many benefits. To learn more about why your organization should join the all-new Ottawa Board of Trade, visit www.ottawabot.ca or contact Rob Campbell at BusinessDeveloper@ottawabot.ca or 613-236-3631 x200.
News from Ottawa Board of Trade members
www.ottawabot.ca
CONNECT!
Advocating for business. Fuelling the future.
• • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
LOCAL BREAKFAST SERIES
La Cité eyes deeper ties with business community The head of East Ottawa’s only postsecondary institution says she wants to unleash the full potential of La Cité’s Aviation Parkway and Orléans campuses and be a partner in further developing the area’s economy. Speaking at a Local Breakfast Series event hosted by the Ottawa Board of Trade and OBJ at the Shenkman Arts Centre this spring, La Cité president and CEO Lise Bourgeois said the school is looking to forge deeper relationships with businesses both across the region and in its own backyard. “We have a special relationship with East Ottawa and will contribute to its plans and priorities,” she told attendees. Her comments came on the heels of a final Ottawa East economic development strategy and action plan, developed by consulting firm Doyletech. It identified several sector-specific opportunities, including: • Engineering and industrial systems; • Agri-tech, including goat products and meat processing; • Culinary, recreation, arts, culture and tourism, including
in 2013, the firm also has a clinic at 3095 St. Joseph Blvd. in Orléans.
OUT OF THIS WORLD HOME SERVICES CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY; REBRANDS BELLEFLEUR PHYSIOTHERAPY OPENS SECOND LOCATION Bellefleur Physiotherapy, named one of Ottawa’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2017, recently celebrated the opening of its second location at 2 Beechwood Ave., at the corner of the Vanier Parkway. Founded
DS Plumbing is changing its name to Out of this World Home Services. The brand officially changed on May 15, which marked its 15th year in business. The company is changing its name to reflect its expansion into new fields. The firm will soon be adding HVAC and electrical services to its offerings.
SAVE THE DATE
UPCOMING EVENTS
Visit ottawabot.ca for more information and registration details on these and other upcoming business events.
Women, Wine & Wisdom June 13, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Hilton Lac-Leamy An evening designed to create a candid conversation about leadership,
Lise Bourgeois , president and CEO, La Cité
•
•
•
•
enhanced activities on Petrie Island and the development of a Nordik Spa resort-type destination; Health, with specializations in mental health and addictions, as well as the development of enhanced retirement and seniors’ residences; Automotive, specifically a specialization in electric vehicles, enhanced distribution and recycling capabilities and winter testing capability; Government, defence and security, including specialities in cyber-defence and UAVs; and Professional and environmental services, developed through a dedicated collaborative space.
Other opportunities identified by Doyletech includes cannabis growing and processing, robotics, “green construction” as well as distribution and warehousing.
life balance and legacy. Enjoy a beautiful dinner, share real stories and be inspired by powerful women known for “owning it.”
Redblacks home opener with OBOT June 20, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. TD Place Stadium (Lower Log Cabin) Watch the Ottawa Redblacks play the Saskatchewan Roughriders at the Lower Log Cabin and network with Board of Trade members at TD Place Stadium in Lansdowne Park.
OTTAWA BOARD OF TRADE
CHAMBER ADVOCACY
Support for free market opportunities to address high electricity prices Enable opportunities for Ontario businesses and residents to better manage electricity costs through virtual netmetering. Policy resolution submitted by the Ottawa Board of Trade and ratified by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce at its spring annual general meeting.
electricity generation that produces power at peak-demand times, this will allow subscribers to take advantage of the “peaking” nature of the “time-of-use” period, which will significantly reduce their electricity bills. The move to deregulate the electricity grid in Ontario was the correct one, but the province has yet to truly harness the potential of the free market opportunities that will provide businesses in Ontario with the open, fair, and competitive electricity options that will enable lower prices and long-term resiliency of the grid.
www.ottawabot.ca
Electricity prices in Ontario are the highest in the country, undercutting the competitiveness of businesses in the province and reducing the attractiveness of the province as a destination for
investment. It is the responsibility of the Government of Ontario to explore opportunities for businesses and residents to obtain relief from these pressures. Between 2008 and 2015, due to a myriad of factors, electricity prices in Ontario rose by 71 per cent, outpacing the growth of Ontario’s economy by a factor greater than 4:1. Its impact on businesses has been well-documented. This resolution will attempt to provide a constructive free-market solution to this challenge: virtual net metering. Virtual net metering is a billing arrangement that allows multiple homeowners or businesses to participate in the same net metered electricity generation system and share the output
from a single facility that is not physically connected to their property (or their meter). Under this arrangement, the electricity generated from a single project creates bill credits that can be used by one or more participating customers to account for a portion of their total electricity needs. The supplier is partnered with the local utility to ensure the monthly energy (kWh) produced by the project is netted off of the participants’ electricity bill proportionally based on their level of ownership in the project. As many of these projects deploy
Commit to continue with timeof-use pricing and investigate opportunities to enable ratepayers in the province to enter in to virtual net metering arrangement under a timeof-use/production pricing scheme.
•
Amend O Reg 541/05 (the Net Metering Regulation) to allow for virtual net metering.
Advocating for business. Fuelling the future.
•
CONNECT!
RECOMMENDATIONS
OTTAWA’S NEWEST HOTEL. NOW OPEN!
JUNE 2019
WHETHER IT’S AN OVERNIGHT TRIP OR AN EXTENDED STAY YOU CAN UNPACK HERE.
39 HILTON.COM
OBJ.CA
New and Contemporary | Collect Hilton Honors Points 361 Queen Street (at Lyon) | 1-613-234-6363
OBJ.CA
40 JUNE 2019
MIFO.CA
www.ottawabot.ca CONNECT!
Advocating for business. Fuelling the future.
OBOT MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
CaseWare IDEA grows global presence with data analysis software
An IDEA dev team reviews the latest analytics dashboard.
recent growth, expanding its headcount by more than 35 per cent in the last two years alone. Its global distribution partner network has also expanded to more than 40 countries with the recent addition of partners in South Korea, Taiwan, China, Ukraine and Senegal.
BILINGUALISM “C’est payant!” Get your marketing material translated at a low price with the RGA. Take courses in French as a second language
Advocating for business. Fuelling the future.
How can our staffing services help you?
CONNECT!
When you provide services in the two official languages, we will promote it on our website.
www.ottawabot.ca
Launched as a pilot project in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada in 1984, CaseWare IDEA – an Ottawa-based software development company focused on data analytics – is now used by audit and finance professionals in more than 100 countries. Originally developed as a tool to assist auditors analyze transactional financial data, Interactive Data Extraction and Analysis (IDEA) soon caught the attention of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, which commercialized IDEA and started to sell it to auditor-general offices and accounting firms around the world in the 1990s. CaseWare International acquired IDEA outright in 2000 and continued to develop and market IDEA as an analytics tool used to detect fraud, accounting anomalies and outliers during an audit. The company has seen considerable
There’s no way around it; you need good people. The problem is, it takes time to find good people. The other problem is, you don’t have a lot of time. Temporary staffing Got a big project? Short a few people? Busy season coming up? We can find the people you need — as soon as you need them.
Direct placement
Recruitment consulting Need help with some or all parts of the recruitment process? We’ve got just the solution.
adecco.ca
In partnership with
41 Translation & Language Solutions
OBJ.CA
Kanata: 613.599.3151 Ottawa Professional & Government: 613.244.0241
JUNE 2019
There’s a lot of pressure to make the right permanent hire. Just take that pressure and put it right on us. We can handle it.
The Heart of Orléans Improving Today, Looking toward the Future
JUNE 2019
www.ottawabot.ca
CONNECT!
Advocating for business. Fuelling the future.
O
OBJ.CA
42
rléans has transformed over the past 13 years. Back in 2006, the business community along St-Joseph Boulevard was looking for a way to promote their commercial district, which is how the Heart of Orléans Business Improvement Area (BIA) was created. Today, Orléans is poised for more transformation. Light rail is arriving by 2025, along with opportunities to realize more economic growth and a more vibrant community. A Revitalized Centre The original “main street” of Orléans is St-Joseph Boulevard, which is home to many of the unique shops, services and restaurants that Orléans has to offer. This is the “place where community happens” in Orléans, which needs to be supported and grow over time. “Our vision is a revitalized, vibrant centre for Orléans, which is more walkable, bikeable and connected to light rail,” says Jasmine Brown, Executive Director of the BIA. Over the past 10 years Festival Plaza, along Centrum Boulevard, has become a place where people gather for arts and culture with the Shenkman Arts Centre. And we have worked hard to bring festivals to the Plaza, such as the Orléans Craft Beer Festival, the Orléans PoutineFest, and the Orléans Ribfest to name a few. East End Economic Corridor Revitalization also means smart redevelopment and intensification around light rail. Already we are seeing an increased interest in the potential for transit-oriented development, and the economic and job growth this can bring. Light rail will help to create an economic corridor for the east end of the city. “The BIA is bringing a renewed focus to its work, particularly around economic development, as we look to the future,” says Pascale Bazinet, Chair of the Orléans BIA. Bringing Balance to Orléans With light rail and revitalization, Orléans needs to have a more balanced work base compared to the rest of Ottawa. Even though Orléans has one of the most educated and bilingual workforces in the city, we export most of our workers every day. And there is an imbalance across the city - for example, Orléans has fewer than 50 federal jobs, compared this to 13,100 federal jobs in the Kanata/Bayshore area. There is a similar disparity in large employers and knowledge-based jobs.
“ Jasmine Brown, Executive Director, Heart of Orléans BIA
Concept of potential development.
Our vision is a revitalized, vibrant centre for Orléans Orléans also exports its workforce each day. Each morning about 80 percent of traffic is leaving Orléans, while only 20 percent is coming to Orléans. Balance Orléans is an initiative to bring more community awareness to this issue and rally support for major employers, and is working with the Capital Task Force 2020. We believe Orléans will become a place where residents can work in their own community, and people from all parts of the city can take light rail to work at knowledge-based jobs and large employers, right here in Orléans. One of the most sought-after characteristics of workers today, particularly millennials, is to live in a neighbourhood where they can live, work and play. Creating more mixed use developments in this area, with a mix of retail, office space and residential will be a key goal as we look to the future.
Stay Connected Stay connected with what is going on in Orléans! Subscribe to our free, bilingual e-magazine, The Beat / le rythme - your monthly digest of all things Orléans.
heartoforleans.ca/thebeat