The Greater Toronto Region includes the Durham, York, Peel and Halton regions, as well as the city of Toronto. The region is home to millions of people and jobs.  The economic hub of Canada, the GTR is home to the nation’s financial services sector, many corporate headquarters, large manufacturers and businesses of all types and sizes.

Communities across the Greater Toronto Region are among the Canadian municipalities hardest hit by the current global economic crisis. That is why the region’s top leaders are coming together in a spirit of partnership to develop an economic strategy that will revive and strengthen our regional economy.

The delegates will tackle four specific economic challenges facing our region.  They will then come forward with an action plan providing ready-to-implement ideas and solutions.

Download the Schedule.

Download the Think Piece.

View Nik Nanos' presentation from the Summit (PDF)

Government's Role in the Economy

Government's Impact on Downturn

Long-Term Boost to the Economy

Short-Term Boost to the Economy

Views on Government taking Debt

Views on Increases to Personal Income Tax

Economic Challenges

Challenge 1
Enhancing our financial services sector

• What do you believe are the key issues and challenges facing the financial services sector?
• Are there specific opportunities that should be considered that would generate short-term results while positioning the sector for longer-term success?
• How can the international reach of the financial services sector be increased?
• What incentives are needed to increase the availability of venture capital, especially in research and innovation?
• What action can the government and/or private sector take in the short term to address the key issues and challenges, or capitalize on identified opportunities, and strengthen the sector?
• What criteria should be used to determine the priorities for action?
• What are the potential barriers, such as regulatory impediments, to successfully moving forward and how would you address them?
  

Challenge 2
Restructuring our manufacturing Base

• What do you believe are the key issues and challenges facing the industrial sector?
• Are there specific opportunities that should be considered that would generate short-term results while positioning the sector for longer-term success?
• Can steps be taken in the short term to transform our modern industrial plant with its skilled workforce to create a new, internationally competitive manufacturing economy, perhaps based on green or biomedical technologies? Or, as some have argued, is the best course to accept deindustrialization and promote Toronto as an important node in the global services economy?
• If the shift to a creative age is “inexorable,” what must we do in the short term to ensure that Ontario is one of its leaders and, more importantly, its beneficiary?
• What action can the government and/or private sector take in the short term to address the sector’s key issues and challenges, or capitalize on identified opportunities and strengthen the sector?
• What criteria should be used to determine the priorities for action? How can governments achieve the highest return on their investment — by focusing on people, infrastructure or aid to firms? Should government pick winners?
• How do we ensure that the massive infrastructure spending of the next few years supports the emergence of a stronger economy rather than filling the holes in the dikes of a weak one?
• What are the potential barriers, such as regulatory impediments, to successfully moving forward and how would you address them?

Challenge 3
Building a Human Capital Advantage

• What do you believe are the key issues and challenges as we think about our labour force?
• Are there specific opportunities or initiatives that should be considered that would generate short-term results while positioning our labour force for longer term success?
• What more can governments, employers, occupational regulatory bodies, professional associations and educational institutions do in the short term to fully integrate immigrants into the productive labour force?
• What roles should governments, educational institutions, labour unions and business play in the short term in crafting education and training that match skills to jobs?
• What must be done in the short term to ensure that our universities, colleges and trade schools provide our economy with the qualified workers needed for a prosperous future?
• What action can the government and/or private sector take in the short term to address the key issues and challenges, or capitalize on identified opportunities, and strengthen our labour force?
• How can governments, business, labour unions and educational institutions work together to provide an effective safety net to families during this crisis, while also providing access to meaningful work and educational opportunities that will return them to a productive economic role?
• What criteria should be used to determine the priorities for action?
• What are the potential barriers, such as regulatory impediments, to successfully moving forward and how would you address them?

Challenge 4
Promoting research, innovation and creativity

• What do you believe are the key issues and challenges in promoting research, innovation and creativity?
• Are there specific opportunities that should be considered that would generate short-term results while creating the impetus for longer-term success?
• What can institutions, universities, colleges, business and governments do in the short term to further promote the commercialization of new discoveries, especially among small- and medium-sized businesses?
• What else might institutions, governments, labour unions and the private sector do, including infrastructure investments, in the short term to promote innovation and attract the best minds to our region?
• What action can the government and/or private sector take in the short term to address the key issues and challenges, or capitalize on identified opportunities, and strengthen our capacity for research, innovation and creativity?
• What criteria should be used to determine the priorities for action? What is the appropriate balance between applied and pure research?
• What are the potential barriers such as regulatory impediments to successfully moving forward and how would you address them