The president of the London Economic Development Corporation concedes the 2008 global economic downturn had serious effects in southwestern Ontario.
“If you look at communities across the region and how they were affected by the downturn, there are virtually none that didn’t suffer a major job loss,” said Peter White, in an interview last week with the Journal Argus. “And we’re seeing now that it wasn’t a traditional downturn/recovery cycle.”
The city didn’t suffer massive job losses from one site, on the scale of St. Thomas or other nearby towns, but it did suffer big job losses overall. In part, that’s because a lot of people who used to work in factories in those outlying communities lived in London. In addition, much of the spin-off employment that was tied to that economic vitality in the region were centred in London — services, hospitality, construction. When the region went through a downturn, the people in those sectors suffered as well.
“If we don’t have strength regionally, it impacts everyone.”
White grew up in and attended schools in St. Marys. After studying history and geography in university, he worked in the cellular and satellite phone sector for several years, then ran a software company with twin bases in Toronto and San Jose.
“It was a lot of time on aircraft and a lot of back-and-forth between California and Ontario,” he recalled. “It got monotonous, and it got to be a real burden after (the travel security crackdowns as a result of) 9-11.”
So, even though he hadn’t been thinking about a job change or relocation, when a friend mentioned the president of the LEDC — a city-mandated agency that operates under the direction of a 15-member board of directors drawn from London’s top-level academic, corporate and municipal sectors — was leaving, he decided to apply.
White has been with the agency since 2007.
Looking ahead into 2012, he notes most projections show Canada’s growth rate at between 2 and 2.5 per cent. With the vast majority of that growth taken up by the oil sector, ““we’re probably looking at pretty slow growth for our region again this year.”
But he adds that “the US economy can’t continue going on as it is now forever.” In southwestern Ontario, the auto sector has picked up, and the factories that remain are building models that certainly seem to have a bright future. In general, the factories are above their 2007 hiring levels now.
And “food processing is one area where we’re starting to have some success . . . That’s something we’ve really been working on with upper level governments — promoting the great water, the good land availability, and the capacity that we have in the City of London to treat the wastewater from food processing facilities.”
He cites two major success stories with which he has been intricately involved, and for which this strategy is a least partially responsible: the Original Cakery, the country’s largest private-label dessert manufacturer supplying grocery chains like Sobey’s, opened in 2009 and employs about 200 people; and the big one is the under-construction Dr. Oetker pizza plant, which is projected to begin, in 2013, supplying all of the German company’s North American market — a market that’s currently being served by imported product.
Already, the Original Cakery sources cream from a dairy plant in Mitchell. And the German pizza-maker, White says, “will be taking in agricultural inputs from the region, to the tune of $70-80 million per year.”
“It has a huge regional benefit every time we can attract one of these to London,” he adds.
The key is going to be innovation, he says: not just in terms of innovative products, but innovative approaches to marketing, and finding other ways of adding value to the product.
“You need to diversify your base as much as you can.”
White is happy to discuss the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund, a provincial government initiative that was first announced at a conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in London early last year. Currently undergoing public consultation as the government determined how it will award approximately $20-million per year to successful applications, it’s meant to support opportunities for job creation — by new companies coming into the region; by companies expanding their production of a product line or creating additional product lines; or companies looking to broaden their export markets.
And he’s happy to predict a bright future for his hometown of St. Marys, suggesting the now-closed Dana truck chassis manufacturing plant remains a valuable piece of real estate due to its rail access and other factors. In addition, food processing — clearly a sector in which he sees much promise — already has a strong foothold in St. Marys.
Citing Heinz, Schneiders, Shur-Gain, Shepherds Dairy and Solis Foods, he enthuses, “Southwestern Ontario has always been self-sufficient.” But some agricultural sectors, particularly pork and beef, got hard hit by the downturn.
“We’ve lost core competency in Ontario. We don’t have any canning of fruit in Ontario. There are a lot of consumer products from meat that aren’t made in Ontario any more.” That represents an opportunity for someone willing to take a risk.
“I’m optimistic. We’ve set up some good programs in Ontario. Ontario, from a corporate tax perspective, is now lower than any US state.” And the province’s continued focus on education is going to provide us with a good base of talent and expertise.
“2012 is going to be a slow year . . . But by 2013, we should start to see some stronger changes.”