Toronto Global

Toronto Region – Powerhouse in the Creative Industry

Toby Lennox — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 18:32:00 +0000

One of the unique pleasures of working at Toronto Global is that our offices are located at the heart of TIFF. We are kitty-corner to the Bell Lightbox where so many films are screened. Perhaps even more fun is the fact that our windows overlook the red carpet itself, albeit from nine stories up. Every afternoon, starting at roughly four o’clock, the sounds of screaming crowds draw the Toronto Global team to the windows to see if we can identify which stars are being greeted by their adoring fans.

Canada, Ontario and the Toronto Region all owe a huge debt of gratitude to TIFF for the stellar work they have done to put our country, province and region on the film map year-in and year-out. In our bid on behalf of the Toronto Region for Amazon’s HQ2, we featured TIFF prominently as an indication of the dynamism and vitality of our region as a whole.

As Idris Elba famously said, “This is one of the greatest film festivals in the world and you are amazing…I just realized what TIFF actually stands for: Toronto is f**king fantastic!” (And yes, we included that whole quote in the Amazon bid book. Probably the only bid book to include a swear word!)

As much fun as TIFF is, however, we should not miss the opportunity to reflect on the scale and importance of the film, TV, animation and special effects industries to the economy of our region. As residents of the Toronto Region, we sometimes get frustrated by the sight of white production trucks cluttering up our sidewalks while our neighbourhoods are turned into a Christmas scene in a July heatwave.

But, we all need to recognize that film and TV production is a massive and critical element of our regional economy and one that stimulates economic growth in areas outside the production of the film or TV show itself.

Yes, we all know that Toronto Region crews and talent helped to produce the Oscar winning film, “The Shape of Water,” and that our region and the City of Hamilton have been at the centre of the ground-breaking series, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” but from Durham to Halton, our talent, our people and governments from all levels have turned the region into a magnet for film and TV production.

Film production in Durham is up 70 per cent in 2018. New studios are planned for Toronto and Markham, adding to the more than 2,000,000 square feet of production space in the region and more than 7,000 shoot locations. Over 30,000 highly skilled people are employed in the production of the movies and TV shows that are enjoyed by millions around world.

Our colleges and universities are pumping out the talented animation, CGI and digital arts graduates that are being employed by production companies making documentaries, animated TV shows, blockbuster productions and taut crime shows. Alumni of Sheridan College have taken home Emmys, Golden Globes, Annie Awards and Oscars.

This high tech talent finds its way into industries and sectors that seem at first blush to be distant from film and TV. We see graduates of digital animation schools producing ground-breaking developments such as VR applications for medical diagnostics, self-driving car interfaces and hundreds of other applications. This, in turn, assists in cementing the Toronto Region as a world tech leader.

About Toronto Region – Powerhouse in the Creative Industry

Given this impact, we have to view the entire area as a vibrant and critically important element of our economic resilience. No longer should we think of the “screen industry” or the “movie business.”

We have to embrace the fact that we are in the Toronto Region, a leader in the creative industries, which is every bit as important to our vitality and vibrancy as any other large industries such as finance, advanced manufacturing and health care.

Congratulations to all those who have worked hard to make the region such a powerhouse in the creative industries. Let’s not sit back and just watch the show. Let’s make sure it grows, prospers and has a resilient future.

Collaborating for Investment Attraction Benefits Us All

Toby Lennox — Tue, 08 May 2018 18:35:00 +0000

Earlier this year, Toronto Global released the results of an excellent study we commissioned on the regional impacts of foreign direct investment. The study, written by Dr. Richard DiFrancesco and Dr. David Wolfe of the University of Toronto, examined both quantitative and qualitative benefits associated with a greenfield investment made by a company in the Toronto Region.

A copy of the study, which I would encourage anyone interested in urban and regional development to read, is available on our website.

As I discussed in a presentation at a recent Conference Board of Canada conference on regional economic development, while there are many lessons to be learned from the work of Drs. DiFrancesco and Wolfe, three stand out. The first is that an investment in any part of the Toronto Region benefits the entire region in one way or another.

The second is that roughly 75-90% of the value of the investment stays within the region. And finally, international companies are looking for jurisdictions that can match their increasingly complicated and involved international supply chains.

In other words, in order to land an investment, a regional approach by organizations like Toronto Global or Montreal International are better positioned to draw upon the resources of all the municipalities within their respective areas rather than an approach driven by any one single municipality.

These conclusions may seem obvious, and reflect what many already know – the staggering growth of our municipalities has resulted in the blurring of jurisdictional boundaries that were developed many years ago. International business no longer understand or respect these boundaries and simply look to an entire region to provide them with the support, the talent and the resources that they need to succeed.

But does this mean that we simply can ignore the individual attributes and characteristics of individual communities and municipalities as we pitch to multinationals? Does the regional value proposition crush the benefits of a particular city within the region?

In my view, this is certainly not the case. A region is made up of individual municipalities, each of which have created their own culture, their own ethic and their own unique set of assets and attributes that, when taken together, present to international investors a range of choice that can and should never be diluted. If we look at a region through the lens of an international investor, and if the analysis of Drs.

DiFrancesco and Wolfe is correct, then the investor is trying to find a region that mirrors, in all its complexity, its own international supply chain. Therefore, a diverse, variated and multi-faceted regional value proposition grounded in the assets and attributes of all the communities in the region is just the ticket.

This was brought home to me recently as I drove 155kms through the Toronto Region – to a breakfast in Brampton, a stop-off at the office in Downtown Toronto, and off to a lunch in Pickering. Each stage of my journey reminded me of the fundamental value of the assets of the differing municipalities in the region.

Mayor Jeffrey of Brampton, together with the Brampton Board of Trade, was holding what was, in effect, a celebration of the announcement of a long awaited new university in Downtown Brampton. To be developed in conjunction with Ryerson University and Sheridan College, the new campus will be a hotbed of cybersecurity research and development.

This unique endeavour makes a singular contribution to the overall strength of the Toronto Region, Ontario and Canada in cybersecurity, while providing students in the western Toronto Region with a centre of excellence close to home. (As an aside, the announcement in Brampton marked the second of such announcements by the government of Ontario.

As a measure of their commitment to raising the talent bar in Ontario, the province announced a new campus for Wilfrid Laurier University in Milton. Congratulations to Ontario, Halton and Milton on this initiative.)

A few hours later, Mayor Ryan of Pickering hosted what could only be described as a boisterous business lunch featuring a local musical act celebrating the charms of Pickering. But aside from the tunes, Mayor Ryan made a robust statement about the vigorous present and future of Pickering and the Durham Region.

He announced a new entertainment complex – Durham Live! – which promises to change the face of the eastern Toronto Region. He announced new investments by Kubota Industries and a new innovation corridor, all with the promise of more to come. (And we all took home toy Kubota tractors that my young neighbour loves!)

About Investment Attraction

New university campuses. Cybersecurity research innovation centres. New hotel and entertainment complexes. Multinational investments in new industrial parks. All of these are not possible without the individual drive and commitment of each municipality.

And each, in their own way is contributing to the multi-faceted regional offering that international investors will find compelling. Indeed, one hopes that investors will find a place for themselves in this myriad of offerings.

So, while we are inevitably marching toward a more cohesive or integrated approach to building and planning our emerging urban region, it is imperative that each community develops and brings to the table its unique assets, attributes and culture.

And regional organizations like Toronto Global will continue to work to bring these assets, attributes and cultures to the doorsteps of companies around the world looking for a new place to succeed.

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