Local Government Leaders Meet With Economy Professionals to Address Industry Challenges

Local government leaders met with key industry stakeholders and economic development professionals to address recent economic shifts and their impact on employment in the Peterborough community at the Peterborough + Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce on Thursday morning.

(from left to right) Dave Smith, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP; Mayor Jeff Leal and Bonnie Clarke, Peterborough County Warden. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The leaders included Mayor Jeff Leal; Dave Smith, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP and Bonnie Clark, Peterborough County Warden. Emma Harrison, Peterborough-Kawartha MP, was not in attendance physically but endorsed the actions taken to address the issue. According to her communications assistant, Jessica Nyznik, Harrison had attended the meeting virtually via Zoom.

On Monday, Smith had called leaders to meet with economic professionals at the Chamber of Commerce for Thursday.

The meeting’s purpose was to determine how to reverse current trends, fortify Peterborough's business environment and understand local economic growth challenges.

“A real emphasis today, Peterborough County and City have a lot of top-notch homegrown industries,” said Leal. “Those homegrown industries are the ones that make the decisions every day, right here in our local community so we need to continue to look at ways that we can expand that base in order to create those new job opportunities.”

The call for the meeting followed three days after Peterborough’s Minute Maid facility announced it would discontinue frozen products and production would cease in the first quarter of next year. This results in job losses but the number is undisclosed.

Last week, Lufthansa InTouch announced they were shutting down its Peterborough facility in May next year. One month prior, Siemens had announced its consolidation operations in Concord on June 25, relocating approximately 160 manufacturing positions over the next two years.

The local politicians meet bi-weekly to address any issues and concerns. The economic challenges were on their radar but the changes in the three companies, as mentioned above, were a tipping point that led to calling the meeting, according to Smith.

“These companies are making decisions based on their global footprint, not necessarily the local footprint,” he explained. “We will do what we can do then, to ensure that the local environment here is as conducive as possible to keep those companies, to expand those companies.”

Thursday’s discussions aimed to uncover the reasons behind the most recent downsizing and company relocations from Peterborough to other jurisdictions.

“This is the start,” explained Clark. “We will be supportive, we will put plans in place that Peterborough grows — the City of Peterborough and the County. We want to make sure that our businesses are supported and that we retain businesses and we grow businesses.”

Smith added that US President Donald Trump and his tariffs are not a direct factor in the economic shift in Peterborough but they do play a role in companies’ decisions.

“There have been other things that have given them the decision to do that,” explained Smith. “Everything that happens in the market affects other parts of the world. Because there is uncertainty in the US market, that trickles into other areas of the world economy and there is uncertainty in all of them.”

All four politicians released a joint statement regarding Peterborough’s business challenges:

“Mayor Jeff Leal, Warden Bonnie Clark, MPP Dave Smith and MP Emma Harrison conducted the first of a series of consultations with industry and economic development experts to understand the challenges faced by industry operating in the Peterborough area. Recognizing that all levels of government play a role in ensuring job creators in the region can be successful, a task force will be formed to facilitate the cooperative approach that all four elected officials will use to work together to address the concerns of businesses and improve the conditions for their operations. Working together to find ways to leverage each level of governments tools and programs in a collaborative approach to help businesses in the region succeed will be the main goal of the task force.

Mayor Leal, Warden Clark, MPP Smith and MP Harrison commit to work together to enhance the prospects of the local job creators in the Peterborough region to be successful and continuing to contribute to the fabric of the region.”

Meetings are ongoing to continue addressing this issue.

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