Leaders discuss strategies for economic growth across the province

From November 1 to 2, 2023, leaders from government, academia and business gathered at the 2023 Ontario Economic Summit to address dominant topics across the province. Organized by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC), the two-day event welcomed influential leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Doug Ford and others. It consisted of a variety of panel discussions and networking opportunities connected by the theme, “Partnerships for Prosperity.” The summit took place at the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto and was attended by more than 300 people. 

During the panels, experts dug into issues of the housing crisis, the global competition for talent and the advancement of artificial intelligence. The final panel of the summit addressed reducing red tape, harnessing diversity and igniting innovative growth. It was moderated by Rocco Rossi, president and CEO of the OCC, who opened the conversation by highlighting research on Ontario’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. He said that compared to the eight U.S. states connected to the Great Lakes, the average GDP per capita in Ontario is $20,000 less annually, thus emphasizing the potential for economic growth in Ontario.

Filomena Tassi, minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, emphasized the importance of growing partnerships and working together. “I don't think it can be understated that if we are all rowing in the same direction, we're going to be stronger, we're going to be faster, and we're going to be better,” she said. 

Across the province, many businesses are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic; certain restrictions, created to protect the health care system, limited how businesses could operate. “Coming out of COVID, we’re at levels of debt and deficit that we haven’t seen since the Second World War,” Rossi said. For equity-deserving groups, the impact has been even more severe; for example, the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (external link)  found the pandemic disproportionately affected (external link)  women and women-dominated sectors. 

“Our single greatest resource right now is our human resources,” said Wendy Cukier, founder and academic director of the Diversity Institute (DI) and research lead for the Future Skills Centre (external link) . “When there’s a war for talent, how do we ensure that we really make this the golden age of equity, diversity and inclusion [EDI] and get the most out of every single person in our economy?”

The Future Skills Centre and DI’s labour market research shows the recovery of Canada’s labour market following the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of job postings increased to above pre-pandemic levels; meanwhile, procuring talent continues to be a challenge for many businesses. Cukier said that while changing demographics means a changing market and additional opportunities for new products and services, it also means a changing talent pool. 

“It’s an international competition for talent,” she said. “If you don’t have strategies in place to reach the best and the brightest, you’re missing out.”

Cukier said a shift in perspective is essential for Ontario business's strategic success. “We have to change the conversation because too many people think of EDI as red tape or another item on the to-do list, instead of understanding how core it is to Canada’s competitive advantage,” she said.

On the topic of red tape, Rossi turned to Giles Gherson, president and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade and former deputy minister of economic development. He said that simply asking governments for more money is likely not going to be the answer to most problems across the province. “In your time as deputy minister, you were really a champion of red tape reduction, so give us a sense of where the big opportunities are. And what do you think we can do to expedite that process?” Rossi asked.

Gherson said over-regulation is affecting Ontario’s economic development. He said that some manufacturing businesses shy away from implementing new technologies due to delays that come from waiting for regulatory approvals. “That’s the productivity gap,” he said. “We need to standardize our regulations so it’s much more consistent with our international partners,” he added.

While using new technology is one side of increasing productivity, Cukier highlighted another important focus. Almost 90% of private sector jobs (external link)  in Canada are with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); furthermore, DI research has found that SMEs must grapple with skills gaps and needs. It is important, therefore, to support SMEs in figuring out how to apply technology to their businesses. She cited as one example the Diversity Assessment Tool (external link)  (DAT), created by DI, which analyzes an organization's EDI practices to help improve its strategies. There are a lot of resources, Cukier said, “But we need to figure out how to encourage the uptake.”

Cukier also pointed to the 50 – 30 Challenge (external link) , in which DI is an ecosystem partner, a voluntary code that promotes the creation of diverse leadership teams. The challenge encourages organizations to achieve gender parity (50% women and/or non-binary people) and significant representation (30%) of members from other equity-deserving groups on Canadian boards and/or in senior management.

To close the discussion, Tassi emphasized the importance of collaboration to find innovative ways to support businesses and strengthen the economy. She said partnerships across all areas are crucial. “We also need the chambers, educational facilities, industry and non-profits to come together and talk about one of the ways that we can really seize the opportunities that are out there,” she said, adding, “The investments are so important because it's not just for the jobs for today. These are jobs that are going to be created for generations to come.”