As Cities around the world get smarter, will cities start leaving people behind?
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President Trump thinks Canadians are being difficult. Canada’s Ambassador described the talks as “heated” but productive, and predicted “drama” ahead. To add further post Brexit dysfunction to the array, the UK wants in on NAFTA as though the name wasn’t a hint.
For all the doom and gloom about NAFTA in the 80s, there aren’t a lot of voices in Canada calling for its demise. What’s the future of Canadian corporations if NAFTA talks die and President Trump gets to “kill” the agreement?
Join us on January …
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Ontario and Quebec saw a lot of water this year. Flooding in the first half of summer kept the Toronto Islands closed for much of the season. Watching the devastation wrought by what seems like an endless line of Hurricanes down south is really forcing us to think about our own infrastructure resiliency.
Once in 500 year storms are happening with increasing frequency. Flooding is becoming common place in Toronto.
What are we doing to make sure our critical infrastructure is ready for future weather events? Are …
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Why is local food so expensive? On September 19th we had a discussion about the Economics of Local Food, featuring special guests Cookie Roscoe, Wychwood Barns farmers’ market manager, and Carolyn Young, lead consultant at Organic Council of Ontario.
Roscoe started by recalling that when she was a kid in the 1960s, her father would drive around town every Saturday morning with the grocery flyers, looking for bargains and buying loss leader products. While it used up gas to drive from store to store, savvy shoppers …
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The rapid rise of the “sharing economy” (services like Uber, Airbnb) is revolutionizing the way we satisfy our daily needs and completely transforming traditional markets. With customers happily pocketing savings, policy makers are having to respond to these changes. The discussion has slowly shifted from “should we ban Uber?” to “how should we regulate the sharing economy?”
Join us WSIC Uptown on November 11th as we welcome four special guests to share their opinions on the implications of the sharing economy and suggest how policy makers should respond to this economic …
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The past few years have been dominated by economic woes. The Great Depression lead to world wide pain, and in certain countries temporary chaos and low income people were some of the hardest hit. Governments have tried any and all measures to reestablish conditions necessary for jobs, and most appear to be failing.
Here in Canada, due to the recently high price of oil, we have been relatively insulated, yet young people still experience high rates of unemployment. Now with oil prices significantly lower, the government …
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This past Monday, April 28th, our WSIC audience benefitted from Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, and Debbie de Lange, Business Strategy Advisor and professor at Ryerson University provide an outlook on Ontario’s Green Economy, why it’s important, and where it is headed.
Mr. Milller began the evening by addressing the key dominant environmental factors we should be aware of today, and which will affect us going forwards:
(i) Burning of fossil fuels and climate change. Weather events in Toronto have become more severe recently and will …
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On Monday, January 20th, WSIC hosted an expert panel to engage audience members on the Canada/E.U. Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Sharing their views on the subject were Catherine Swift, Chair of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), Stuart Trew, trade campaigner for The Council of Canadians, and Ali Ehsassi, a lawyer specializing in international trade law. Each speaker provided their unique point of view on the decision made by the government to enter into this important trade agreement with Europe.
Catherine began by …
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How will the Canada/EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement impact everyday Canadians? Catherine Swift and Stewart Trew debate the pros and cons.
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Sustainability or going green is economically beneficial. It is not just about saving whales and polar bears. There exists huge business opportunities. Jim Harris, former leader of the federal Green party, thinks going green can be economically beneficial. For him it’s not just about saving the planet it can save businesses. Energy efficiency creates many times more jobs than the existing ways of doing business. Typically, those companies that realize and implement sustainability programs first are those that survive and thrive. When the price of …
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