[Glen]

Vaughan has earned some bragging rights from Canadian Business magazine after beating Toronto in the 'best Canadian cities for business' ranking.

Sherbrooke, Que. topped the list, with 905 cities including Vaughan, Oshawa, Markham, Brampton and Mississauga scattered from number 12 to 22. Toronto stands at 33 on the list, with Vaughan at 12.

Vaughan Chamber of Commerce president, Deborah Bonk, told 680News there's a simple reason for her city's success. "Location, location, location," she said.

The biggest reason why Toronto is losing ground to the 905 is the cost of doing business. Business taxes are higher in Toronto versus the smaller GTA cities, and because the cost of living is also higher, businesses have to pay their employees more.

http://680news.com/news/headlines/more.jsp?content=20080911_123902_33476

article .........
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/managing/strategy/article.jsp?content=20080929_198700_198700


On the bright side, Toronto is # 33 out of 40. Up from being dead last in 2005.

 

[BobBob]

As if Vaughan and Toronto can be compared as independent cities. Vaughan is a suburb of Toronto, is part of the same metropolitan region. The fact that a suburban area of the big city is more "business-friendly" than the central city should hardly be surprising.

Notice also that Sherbrooke beats Montreal and Levis beats Quebec City. In fact, none of our big cities are even in the top 10.

Some list.

 

[Hydrogen]

As if Vaughan and Toronto can be compared as independent cities. Vaughan is a suburb of Toronto, is part of the same metropolitan region.

Vaughan would be a forest without Toronto.

 

[ShonTron]

The city above the law, the 'City' of Vaughan.

 

[Glen]

As if Vaughan and Toronto can be compared as independent cities. Vaughan is a suburb of Toronto, is part of the same metropolitan region.

While most of the 905 region owes its existence to their proximity to Toronto they are no longer reliant on it. Toronto is the sick man of the GTA and the 905 areas could survive fine without it.

 

[Archivist]

Boo hoo. We're worse than Vaughan!

Your comment about the 905 surviving without Toronto is absurd.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

The 'hole in the donut'?

While most of the 905 region owes its existence to their proximity to Toronto they are no longer reliant on it. Toronto is the sick man of the GTA and the 905 areas could survive fine without it.

I don't believe this for a minute, Glen. The 905 areas would need to have some serious concentration of office space and manufacturing space and they would need a regional focal point to be able to survive without Toronto. Thus, they would have to replicate Toronto or at least a number of mini-Torontos. They would also have to come up with a major center of higher learning, research, and ground zero for cultural events. Again, they would need to replicate Toronto. But they don't have to do any of that... because they have Toronto.

Those city-states which claim they're doing just fine with a hole in the donut are places which are in decline (Detroit) or have never had much clout (Phoenix). You consistently are making the economic/tax case without ever leavening that with an understanding of what else a city represents.

The 905 without Toronto simply does not exist. The 905 is an outgrowth of Toronto, and will always be that.

 

[BobBob]

Also, the article defines "business-friendly" as having low cost of doing business. Of course the cost of doing business is going to be lower out where the land is cheap, close to highways and airports, etc, than in central cities where people actually want to be. By these metrics, Manhattan must be the "sick man of New York" and New York must be "the sick man of the USA".

This article's conclusions only translate into "Toronto is declining!" in your mind because it's a view you seem to be obsessed with. "When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail".

 

[GraphicMatt]

These kinds of rankings seem kind of old-fashioned. They don't put much weight on the presence of an educated workforce. There's more to doing business than just low operating costs.

This reads more like a list of the best cities in which to establish a call centre.

 

[Glen]

I don't believe this for a minute, Glen. The 905 areas would need to have some serious concentration of office space and manufacturing space and they would need a regional focal point to be able to survive without Toronto. Thus, they would have to replicate Toronto or at least a number of mini-Torontos. They would also have to come up with a major center of higher learning, research, and ground zero for cultural events. Again, they would need to replicate Toronto. But they don't have to do any of that... because they have Toronto.

Of course Toronto is satisfying those needs now. If Toronto ceased to exist though, they would simply be recreated elsewhere. They are there not because of current merit, but of history.

Those city-states which claim they're doing just fine with a hole in the donut are places which are in decline (Detroit) or have never had much clout (Phoenix). You consistently are making the economic/tax case without ever leavening that with an understanding of what else a city represents.

I am not really sure what you are trying to say. Toronto has clout and that serves it well? Would you care to enlighten me on what Toronto represents?

 

[Dichotomy]

Although no one could argue that the 905 belt prospered because of Toronto, it's much more of a symbiosis now. 416 and 905 need each other. Unfortunately, there is too much us versus them attitude. I don't feel morally superior for living south of Bloor than my sister who opts for Pickering.

McGuinty needs to amalgamate much of the 905 area into a super-Toronto so that this infighting can stop. We're like a bunch of siblings that can't get along. We need to pool our resources. This super-GTA would have a larger population than every Province except the rest of Ontario, Quebec and B.C.

 

[CGM]

^... that's a tough sell

 

[jswag]

Although no one could argue that the 905 belt prospered because of Toronto, it's much more of a symbiosis now. 416 and 905 need each other. Unfortunately, there is too much us versus them attitude. I don't feel morally superior for living south of Bloor than my sister who opts for Pickering.

McGuinty needs to amalgamate much of the 905 area into a super-Toronto so that this infighting can stop. We're like a bunch of siblings that can't get along. We need to pool our resources. This super-GTA would have a larger population than every Province except the rest of Ontario, Quebec and B.C.

That won't happen, and I would argue it shouldn't. While it is true that it would enable the region to pool its resources, we already had something like that when 905 municipalities use to transfer money to the City of Toronto because so many 905ers rely on Toronto proper's infrastructure. That stopped after years of complaining by 905 government officials. While in many ways a new regional government would be beneficial, we need to ask if another level of government is really necessary. In a sense, Metrolinx is starting to perform this service on perhaps the most important issue, transportation infrastructure.

 

[T-Squared]

These kinds of rankings seem kind of old-fashioned. They don't put much weight on the presence of an educated workforce. There's more to doing business than just low operating costs.

This reads more like a list of the best cities in which to establish a call centre.

That's an interesting point. The best place to do business' does not necessarily equat to a well educated and diverse workforce.

Its becoming evident that sectors tend to group themselves geographically to share the pool of resources, and I'll wait until I find out exactly what Vaughan has to offer to potential businesses when the article is published in full. There are so many factors for businesses to establish a base in any given city. How the city can attract the workforce a business requires should be one of them. Oshawa for example wouldn't be the top place for a lot of people to move to.

One thing this report does do is provide some bragging rights for local politicians to continually boast they are doing something right.

 

[Glen]

These kinds of rankings seem kind of old-fashioned. They don't put much weight on the presence of an educated workforce. There's more to doing business than just low operating costs.

That is true. What is unique in the Toronto/905 area is that those other factors are transferable within the region. What is not, is the lucrative revenue that the municipalities get with new ICI development.

During the last 15 years the 905 region experienced an increase in employment of 27.2% while the population grew by 9.2%. What this shows is that a number of those new jobs must be taken by people outside of the 905 region. Namely Toronto. How does the city reconcile this with it's public transit plans? How do the poor, without cars, likely living in overtaxed rental housing, get to the jobs that the city chased away to the 905 region?

First off , it should be noted that the city has done some research on this issue. A report done by Hemson Consulting on behalf of the city, makes you wonder if they grasp the concepts of economics. One of the comparisons in the report is that of constructing a new office building in Toronto compared to Mississauga. Even though the land cost 55% more in Mississauga (which in itself is indicative of fundamental problems) it is economically unfeasible to build such a office in Toronto while it is in Mississauga. Also, it shows that even though Toronto commercial property tax rate is 59% higher, by means of devaluing the assessment, the city only generates 2% more tax revenue. All the while it misses out on the development and other charges which net the city a lot of revenue.