Cornwall Ontario Loses Nearly 200 More Manufacturing Jobs – Jamie Gilcig Election Blog

JG Election 300x250-02  TESTCORNWALL Ontario – Canlyte is flipping the switch off here in Cornwall Ontario.  That would be nearly 200 manufacturing and support jobs lost and they join the hundreds lost recently in the call centre segment of our employment map.

The announcement, or admission as it was leaking all over Social Media as upset employees started to talk, happened about the same time that the Province has plunged into another election.

Government cannot create jobs.   As much as politicians spout stuff like “Million Job” plans the reality is at best all government can do is either spend tax dollars to bribe stimulate employment; but that rarely turns into long term success.

A well run city or Province attracts good business.   The factors for why a business chooses to locate are not that complex.  Cost, productivity (good pool of employees, good access, lower costs), and location.

While Cornwall is in an ideal location we have failed to attract strong employment.   Not minimum wage jobs or near minimum, but core industries that have good jobs attached to them.

Of course there are factors outside of any municipality or city’s control; but taxes and services are some of the areas that can help.

Bringing down taxes is critical for us to attract not only higher level employers, but the employees that they need to work there.  How many cases have we seen where one spouse gets a job; but their partner can’t find suitable employment?    What happens then?   We lose valuable members of our community that contribute and make up positive metrics.    They don’t buy their home here, or their two cars, and big ticket items.   The trickle effect is devastating.

I’m not sure the people of Cornwall are ready for change.  There’s some lip service, but for the most part it seems that people aren’t willing to take the steps to impact change?   I could be wrong.  I hope I’m wrong.    It will take the next election to show me I’m wrong.

Remember, if you want change, real change, there is only one option.   Are you willing to help make that change happen?

We need better jobs in Cornwall for families, for our children, and most importantly for our growth and future.

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28 Comments

  1. Why am I not surprised about manufacturing leaving Cornwall and not just Cornwall but leaving North America for China and elsewhere? I told everyone here many times that “free trade” which is not free has taken all the manufacturing jobs abroad and are not coming back. There are no jobs not even here in Ottawa. What my daughter is doing is peanuts and this week she only has 10 hours of work and has very little on that job. All the jobs are out west and Ontario is literally bankrupt. People think that by going to the polls will make a difference well I have news for them it won’t. You cannot stop the “global elites” from moving their jobs elsewhere where people who are mighty hungry are exploited and land into suicides in third world nations. This will be the end of the middle class very soon and it is already starting to happen. Go out west and see the high cost of living and it will be a real eye opener.

  2. Hugger if those manufacturing jobs in Cornwall are moving to the US it goes to show you that the cost of doing business in Canada (yes even in Cornwall) is very expensive. When companies have to pay those humoungous hydro rates it is insane. Even just regular businesses cannot afford that any longer nor can the average consumer afford to keep the lights on. The US pays a great deal less on everything and we Canadians get the shaft. It doesn’t matter who you vote for because the answer will be the same and maybe worse.

  3. Yes, the cost of doing business in Canada is high. Hydro is just one part of it. Transportation and dealing with different laws doesn’t help.

  4. How and what change will you implement to bring viable employment to Cornwall?

    Considering the over seas market is still needy, meaning people do not have as much as we do, and labor is cheap, a small factor in the larger scheme of things, I fear the horizon is gloomy for North America.

    Unless somebody has a new idea rather then modifications to the last crappy ones as is the practices now. The only we can improve is to just stop buying needlessly.

  5. Author

    Hailey the first and biggest thing we could do would be to cut taxes 5% in 4 years. The biggest challenge to attracting people are taxes. Look at our neighbors. Not only are they attracting more people than Cornwall we’re losing people to our neighbors.

    We need to make Cornwall a more inclusive community across the board. What attracts people and business is good word of mouth. The city is spending $300K per year for advertising. What are we getting for that? Economic Development has one of the largest budgets. I think we need change. I think we need to bring in new blood. Again, it’s about changing our culture and focus and working together towards that. And that will not take just one politician or person. It will take a community to actually work together to get results.

  6. I currently still work at Philips but they had just opened up a factory in Mexico with all brand new top of the line equipment for what we are doing at Philips in Cornwall it’s cheaper labor for them

  7. I agree on most instances, but with the coming of age of the city reducing taxes may not be a good idea. Who do you think will pay for any and all infrastructure repairs?

    But the largest waste of money is Economic development. Have we really had any development that would sustain and support people having post secondary education??

  8. Author

    Hailey we have room in our budget for infrastructure. Not allowing chem tanks to delivery huge truck traffic is critical if you are worried about our infrastructure. Our mayor and council apparently are not worried about this issue. Cutting taxes will encourage growth. Growth is what we need to fund infrastructure.

  9. Hailey what encourages business is low taxes. We know of a man who lives in Ottawa and commutes to Cornwall on a daily basis and has businesses and property in Cornwall. Doing business in Cornwall is a great deal cheaper. We also know of two doctors who commute to Cornwall on a daily basis. High taxes and high electricity make people close their doors and go elsewhere. Cornwall needs to diversify itself and if only a lot of the immigrants who are in Cornwall would get up and make their own businesses since they are good at business in a general sense and I know because the Lebanese people here in Ottawa made Ottawa for what it is and I am telling all of you directly. Many came over in the past not knowing how to read nor write but they had good business sense and started small and today they are multi millionaires. When you have an idea just like Jamie’s paper you start small and with the time you get there as long as taxes and utilities are kept down. Cornwall is in the right place to make a business. Here in Ottawa you have to be rich now to make things work.

  10. I think the tanks are a good idea, they will not harm the environment, some removal of contaminated soils was carried out and if the city plays their trump card correctly they can have the much needed infrastructure repairs paid for.

    The tanks are hidden from public by the former Bolger steel building which is a much larger bit of land mismanagement and shows more so then the tanks. The harbor is still used in some capacity aside from the tanks. There is little chance of rezoning those lands. Do you truly believe someone would live there?

    I am not sure what you remember about Cornwall from the early years. The infrastructure costs are growing in leaps and bounds beneath grade as much of the old material from Domtar begin to disintegrate. The Caswell and Fennel area have large sink holes forming beneath the streets and the city is aware of it. That is in part from Domtar waste as well as the old fly creek.

    Michel Street is built on an old dump, as it degrades people will soon be living in the pleasant aroma of the methane.

    Sunrise Acres is a combination dump site for Courtaulds, Domtar and BASF….eventually it will all begin to create problems.

    In all honesty with the limited amount of business in the city I highly doubt the citizens can afford the repairs coming. Cutting taxes is always a good idea but you should look back before ahead to make sure you don’t get the bums rush. Remember Liberals always mess things up causing others to attempt a repair the problem causing the liberals to be reelected.. And Bob is from what party?

  11. Hailey Brown you have awakened me to what is going on in Cornwall. Sink holes on those streets and areas of Cornwall. I knew about the dump on St. Michel in that Optomist Park and I remember when I was a child back in 1959 or so that dump caught on fire and I could see the fire at the back of Leduc’s shopping mall. Those were memories and I will never forget that. Sunrise Acres has expensive homes and can you imagine the people who purchased homes in that area. I remember mom and I and a neighbor going out there when it was all bush land picking berries. Jamie doesn’t know about Cornwall because he was not born and brought up there to know the different areas and the damage that the mills did to Cornwall. Jamie has Cornwall’s best interest but he does have a lot to learn about its infrastructure. There was a sink hole in downtown Ottawa not too long ago and where the buses go and I don’t know if anybody was hurt or not. Montreal is full of sink holes as well. One of the things that causes the sink holes is the drilling for gas underground. Yes people will be affected for sure with the methane gas. Thank you Hailey for bringing this subject up which is very important for people to know about.

  12. Thanks for the info Hailey Brown. I think all cities have sitting environmental time bombs just waiting to go off. In Cornwall I think it is more prominent due to Domtar (Big Ben & others previously mentioned), Courtaulds, etc. Something has to be done. The provincial and federal govt’s have to step up for letting dumps being created wherever companies felt like creating them. Some cities install pumping stations that pump the methane gas to the surface from old garbage dumps. They have one at Dumaurier Park in Ottawa at the corner of Pinecrest Rd and Dumaurier Ave. It’s too bad that it took so long to figure out that these dumps are bad for us and the environment.

  13. YI am not sure what you mean by the “The provincial and federal govt’s have to step up ”
    We need to remember it was all done according to the standards of the time.

    If they implement any sort of plan to have former industries pay for reclamation of any sort you can rest assured the price of food will increase as a result. As they are all related at levels most of us would think ludicrous.

    As for methane this is our energy or green energy plans. The possibilities are endless but we lack the people able to uptake the task.

    Have a look at the yourtube clip called “the expert” and you can easily see why

  14. I do have a question here about that Big Ben dump which is Domtar’s and how to get rid of it. This must be Domtar’s responsibility unless there was something stipulated in some contract. This is both an eye sore and mighty dangerous on people’s health. This should be removed as soon as it can be done. Big Ben leaks into the St. Lawrence River as well as the water table in the ground. Cornwall has one of the highest cancer rates in Ontario and Canada as well. The same thing with the dump on St. Michel St. which is the Optomist Park and the leach is leaching into the houses on St. Michel St. I have said it many times before that the best remedy for garbage is to incinerate it BUT we cannot incinerate the Big Ben dump with all those carcinogens. These are things to think over really carefully. Seattle Washington in the US incinerates their garbage and Seattle is a big city. There is no room anywhere in big cities and our garbage here in Ottawa is sent to the town of Carp. Toronto has n place for their garbage and Michigan has been accepting it and Mayor Rob Ford is thinking about the incineration of Toronto’s garbage as well. The incineration of garbage can be turned into electricity which is needed for all.

  15. I came across some articles for people to believe what I told them about Mayor Rob Ford wanting to incinerate garbage and these are good ideas of his and I would like people to read them. We need qualified people to operate such a facility and it is a great idea:

    Mayor Rob Ford supports garbage incineration

    http://www.torontosun.com/2013/06/19/rob-ford-

    Mayer Rob Ford wants city to turn garbage into energy

    http://www.680news.com/2013/06/19/plastic-bag-

    There are other articles as well to read. This is the way to go and no longer make garbage dumps. The dump at Optomist Park should be dug up and burn the trash. This is mighty unhealthy and the same with the dump in Long Sault and everywhere else. This is something that should be pushed ahead.

  16. @Hailey Brown…what I meant by “The provincial and federal govt’s have to step up ” was that those may have been the standards back then. But now that we know what having dumps in neighbours does they need to pressure companies to clean up those dumps NOW!! And if need be pass necessary legislation. The dumps should be cleaned up as soon as the company leaves, NOT when the land is sold. And I think we all know the land that Big Ben is on will never be sold. Domtar needs to clean that mess up now. The longer it waits the more dangerous and costly it becomes.

  17. Something has to be done about garbage dumps. I don’t know what the answer is. Garbage dumps are everywhere, a solution has to be found. This affects us and future generations. Is incineration the answer? I don’t know. Instead of things leaking into the water table they’re released into the air we breath. And the incineration plant in Ottawa, Plasco, to create energy has gone oh so well.

  18. Hugger
    You can’t expect the government to step up while it is stepping on people.

    The only…and I mean only way we can change the way things are done is to take a stand ourselves.

    As for Brownfield from industry, sorry but it’s too late.
    Imposing any laws now would be met by their lawyers in a court of law. That would have a financial impact all the way down to our next meals. The same guy that makes gas for your car also makes the oil in your cooking spray.

    To change things people need to end municipal garbage pickup at the roads ourselves. Bring it to our local municipal government offices. Even to Guy Lauzons office would be a good idea as well as Jim the PC candidate ion your areas. Just leave the waste bags piled neatly on the front lawns.

    Nobody will change anything by votes either, one candidate is no better than the other. I have to believe they all mean well, but like most people they become a clone of the system in order to keep their job and pension.

    My ex and I tried to talk local governments to improve waste management but they scoffed at the idea, primarily out of ignorance but also strongly due to being a clone.

    Canada has some pretty stringent laws in new industrial development and they are quite good. If would could eliminate the piggy back effect of creating government entities following legislation it would be so much cheaper and easier to implement.

    As it is now taxes and fees are necessary only to pay the newly developed government entities. This is a huge part of business expense in Canada.

  19. @Hailey Brown…I agree with your current comment. However, companies and government should not expect taxpayers to cleanup brownfields, old dumps, etc. Governments have backdated legislation before to cover cleanups and it should be done again. The companies created those disasters, they should clean up them up as soon as possible, not when the land is sold. The longer they wait the more dangerous and costly the brownfields and dumps become.

  20. Jamie I have something here and don’t know where to post it and you can put it where you want. This article has to do with (Who Dat?) (Hudak of the PC) wanting to slash teachers salaries and the unions are fighting it. I am for slashing the teachers salaries. I will post the article in a minute. You must have seen about the foreign workers being brought into Canada working in fast food as well as meat packing industries on yahoo’s news. I will post te article on Hudak just now.

    Unions mobilizing against Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak

    http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canada-politi

  21. Author

    Well Jules some might say that the Teacher’s Unions have been holding Ontario hostage now for a few years. It’s a shame though that this issue will never be looked at honestly and that the Liberals and NDP will fight each other on which can sell us out the most competing for that power all in the name of winning elections. And even sad that the only opposition party chooses a leader like Tim Hudak. #epicfailON

  22. Hailey you are one of the very few that ever makes some sense and you are right. Everything depends on ourselves – let us take a look in the mirror and find out what we can do to reduce garbage. If people stop buying so much garbage then we wouldn’t have so many problems. Learn to cook from scratch instead of relying on so much packaging, make as many clothes yourselves including quilts. (I have pieces of old pyjamas (cotton) in front of me making tiny patches for utility quilts that I use the tie method for this and I have old flannel nightgowns of hers and old sheets for the base) and this is how to reuse old items along with other projects. Make a compost bin for some of the household waste of food and it makes great black ground for the garden. Use the Salvation Army to get rid of clothes that you do not need, household items, etc. Don’t throw to the trash unless you absolutely have to. Recycle and what is your trash can be another man’s treasure. Hailey Brown has made plenty of sense in her blogs on this topic. The big corporations and the banksters as in gangsters which they are have the government by the throat and we the little people have no say and there is no use in just thinking that if we change “the bird cage liner” which politicians all are that it will make any difference. Hailey said what is true.

  23. Jamie (Admin) the teachers make the most pay with all the perks and they remind me of the federal government Senators and MP’s and only they have all the huge salaries and perks whereas others work like hell for bird seed and get nothing at all in return. For a quite a number of years no I have been in touch with a lot of Americans and they have been reading the same things as I have and that the standard of living is going to go down and that is a big part of bringing in the low wage earners to work in fast food as well as in the meat packing industry. In the US you see teachers coming from third world countries and replacing regular teachers and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see this happen right here in Canada. Things have to drop and people can no longer afford it anymore.

  24. Good suggestion to cut teacher’s salaries. How do you do it AND keep quality teachers?

  25. There is no quality of education anymore and a lot of students cannot read nor write at a grade 12 level. Why pay teachers 100K which is a complete waste of money. I am well aware of what goes on and if I had my way over again today I would homeschool my kids especially today with what is going on.

  26. Have to agree with you Jules. Schooling is now a joke where some teachers can’t give failing grades for missing / incomplete assignments.

  27. I remember how it was very tough in my day in the 50’s and 60’s era and I remember in elementary school getting hit on the hands with the ruler if we were day dreaming or missing homework, etc. Some people were even given the strap for not knowing poetry in French and I remember the abuse that we all took in those days. Today teachers would lose their licences to teach and would be brought to court for child abuse. We all had to work hard even in high school and assignments had to be handed in in time and fully completed. We had no computers in those days and no calculators to give us answers and we had to figure out everything the long way to get the answers. We had some excellent teachers back then but later on education went down hill. Everything became the “dumbing down of society” and you see the young people today with their eyes and ears glued to phones and I pads and what not. It is like looking at zombies that cannot think for themselves and a mighty sad society today. I pity for their future because there is none from what I see coming in the near future. I thank the Dear Lord for having living years ago when life was better.

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