If Councillor Ron Ashmore has his way Kawartha Lakes could one day be a manufacturing hub for PPE, therapeutics, and vaccines.
A majority of council, at the committee of the whole meeting on Jan. 12, recommended a written proposal from the Ward Six councillor to investigate attracting medical manufacturers with hopes of reducing the area’s concerning 9 per cent unemployment rate.
It may not be the ideal time for a business to celebrate its first-year anniversary, mid-pandemic and in the middle of downtown reconstruction, but that’s where Lindsay’s Unwrapped store finds itself – and they’re making the most out of it.
The business bills itself as “Lindsay’s first zero waste and sustainable living store,” offering plastic free replacements for everyday items in homes and bulk refills of natural and Canadian-made personal care and household cleaning products.
Michael Bryant’s success has always been about adaptability. It’s seen in his agri-tourism destination known as Dromoland Farms. It’s obvious with his purchase of the town trolley car to meet local tourism needs. Now, Bryant has turned his attention to developing an easy-to-use COVID-19 test — and yesterday he got authorization from Health Canada to sell it. The product is called Anosmic COVID-19 Smell Tester. It’s the first (and only, according to Bryant) authorized product that can screen people in their own homes to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The Ontario government is investing over $2 million through the Ontario Together Fund to provide small businesses with free, tailored financial advice and online training to help them make informed financial decisions and navigate the unprecedented economic circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As COVID-19 rages across Canada, now in a second wave, most businesses and workers have been affected in some way. Some people have lost their jobs. Countless others have had their hours cut. And while major grocery store chains, for a time, inched closer to a living wage (calling it a “temporary pay premium”) the extra pay was eventually revoked.
Two local cinemas and the drive-in have all had rough journeys this year due to COVID-19, and yet all hope that next spring will be better with a viable vaccine.
Lindsay’s Century Theatre reopened on Aug. 14. The Lindsay Drive-In reopened earlier, on May 31, where they even tried some live concerts as opposed to just movie offerings. The Highlands Cinema in Kinmount has remained closed since Thanksgiving of 2019.
With the peak of a second COVID-19 wave coinciding with the holiday gift-giving season, saying the small business owner faces some challenges is something of an understatement.
Council enthusiastically endorsed, in principal, the recommendations of the Economic Recovery Task Force presented at their committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 3.
These recommendations include improvements to the downtowns, investments in boat launches and trails, a commitment to move forward with plans for increased broadband capacity, developing a cultural sector recovery grant program and continuing to partner with the Kawartha Lakes Innovation Cluster.
Although the bigger communities in Kawartha Lakes — Bobcaygeon, Fenelon Falls and Lindsay — are often seen as the focus of the local economy, globalization means that they are unlikely ever to return to the days of large-scale manufacturing facilities such as Fleetwood or Viskase.
Economic development now means nurturing smaller operations, many of them located outside our population centres. That in turn means thinking differently about how to support these rural businesses.
A new COVID-19-screening law has been in effect for workplaces in Ontario for the past five days — but not all employers may realize it.
By order of Ontario health officials, starting Sept. 25, all workplaces in Ontario must screen all workers, contractors, volunteers and outside service providers for COVID-19 as a condition of entry.
