NR: Mayor O’Brien urges government to support information and communication technolog
Media Advisories, News Releases & Public Service Announcements
Media Advisories, News Releases & Public Service Announcements
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Date: Friday 19 December 2008
Contact: Public Affairs (613-580-2450), medias@ottawa.ca [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial]NR: Mayor O’Brien urges government to support information and communication technology sector [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Ottawa – Mayor Larry O’Brien today urged both the federal and provincial governments to include the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in any future economic stimulus or infrastructure investment plans.
In letters sent to federal Industry Minister Tony Clement and Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant, Mayor O’Brien called on the government to support the ICT sector through research and development, infrastructure investment and other means, including direct support and improved procurement policy.
“The Information and Communication Technology sector is extremely important to the Canadian economy,” said Mayor O’Brien. “The sector employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians, and the potential loss of these jobs would have far-reaching consequences at the local, provincial and national level. The ICT sector also helps generate jobs in other sectors, and they would also suffer if layoffs were required in the high-tech sector.”
The ICT sector employs close to 600,000 people across Canada. Approximately 82,000 jobs are based out of the Ottawa area.
In addition to economic development, the ICT sector drives important improvements to Canadians’ quality of life, including significant contributions to the health care, education, government and energy industries.
“ICT is the cornerstone of Ottawa’s technology industry and is an integral part of the province’s economy, “ said Jeffrey Dale, President and CEO, Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI). “Therefore we look to the federal and provincial governments to ensure that this key sector is well supported.”
The full content of Mayor O’Brien’s letters are attached below.
-30-
For more information:
Media contact
613-580-2450
Kim Cunningham
Manager, External Communications OCRI
613-851-0768
Public inquiries
3-1-1
===============================================================================
The Honourable Tony Clement
Minister of Industry
Industry Canada
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H5
Dear Minister Clement,
Re: Stimulating the ICT industry to Sustain & Strengthen the Economy during and after Economic Downturn
It is our understanding that the federal government is preparing to build an economic stimulus package to address the current economic crisis. In this context, we believe that now is the time to ensure sufficient investment and direct support for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, a linchpin of our Canadian economy. Underpinning this need is the fact that the Canadian ICT industry is being significantly impacted by the current economic downturn, indeed, to a greater extent than most other sectors.
Information and Communication Technology is directly related to a country’s productivity and competitiveness – and, by extension, its wealth and prosperity. It is widely acknowledged today that ICT as an enabler of broad economic development has surpassed that of the value of the sector itself. As such, ICT will be a competitive tool for a country’s growth for the next several decades. The City of Ottawa has long recognised that ICT is an important and necessary stimulus for both community and economic development. This is evidenced by our investment in telecommunications infrastructure in our community to ensure that all public sector institutions have access to a robust fibre optic network and that all residents and businesses also have access to broadband Internet and the benefits derived from the local ICT industry.
Increasingly, advances in ICT, made possible through significant Research and Development (R&D) investment, are driving important improvements to our quality of life, including aspects of our economy, healthcare, education, government, cleantech, financial and energy industries. For example, the communications-enablement of many traditional IT applications “componentizes” and repackages the network so it can be leveraged in more innovative and effective ways. This approach better supports the communication requirements of various sectors in Canada (e.g. health care, retail, hospitality, finance, energy, etc.), allowing them to more effectively leverage networking to drive the needs of their business and improve service for their clients.
In this difficult economy, highly-skilled jobs associated with the ICT sector are particularly at risk – jobs that are critical to the government’s innovation agenda. The Canadian ICT workforce is currently approaching nearly 600,000 employees. In the current economic climate, the retention of many of these jobs in Canada is undoubtedly at risk, as companies struggle to deal with increasing competition and market pressures.
High-tech employment is especially critical to communities like Ottawa, as it helps to spawn other jobs in related and support sectors, and helps attract businesses that seek to become part of the local ICT ecosystem. A few large anchor ICT companies like Nortel have helped to trigger a rich ecosystem of supply chain and support companies in Ottawa. The retention of the nearly 82,000 jobs tied to the high tech sector jobs will be a decisive factor for Ottawa’s future economic health. In 2007, Nortel spent approximately $150 million with suppliers and partners in the Ottawa region alone. In addition, Nortel’s employment also supports 18,000 infrastructure positions in the community (based on the commonly recognized model that each high-technology job generates the need for another four jobs in the region’s services sector). This mix of a few large anchor companies and many small businesses and start-ups is important to the success of a strong value chain for Canada’s globally focused ICT sector. As of January 2008, only 8 per cent of Ottawa’s tech companies employed more than 100 people, and 50 per cent of the companies employed fewer than 10 people.
Considering that high tech jobs have a catalytic effect on the economy, the loss of these jobs would have far-reaching consequences at the local, provincial and national levels. As such, investments in Canadian ICT will spur new, export ready capabilities and jobs in innovative areas that represent tomorrow's growth industries.
We urge you, therefore, to factor ICT into any economic stimulus/infrastructure investment plans currently being developed – and to take any other measures possible to support this critical Canadian industry. Let’s protect and enhance this vital sector through R & D and infrastructure investment, as well as through all means possible, including improved procurement policy and venture/equity capital support to grow viable ICT companies. Let’s preserve ICT as a Canadian, Ontario and Ottawa core competency and a strategic lever for Canada. It is in our National interest to do so.
Sincerely,
Mayor Larry O’Brien
cc The Honourable John Baird, P.C., M.P.
The Honourable Mauril Bélanger, P.C., M.P.
Mr. Pierre Poilievre, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Monsieur Royal Galipeau, depute
Mr. David McGuinty, M.P.
Mr. Paul Dewar, M.P.
===================================================================================
The Honourable Michael Bryant
Minister of Economic Development
Ministry of Economic Development
8th Floor, Hearst Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M7A 2E1
Dear Minister Bryant,
Re: Stimulating the ICT industry to Sustain & Strengthen the Economy during and after Economic Downturn
It is our understanding that the provincial government is preparing to build an economic stimulus package to address the current economic crisis. In this context, we believe that now is the time to ensure sufficient investment and direct support for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, a linchpin of our economy in Ontario. Underpinning this need is the fact that the ICT industry in Ontario is being significantly impacted by the current economic downturn, indeed, to a greater extent than most other sectors.
Information and Communication Technology is directly related to both our productivity and competitiveness – and, by extension, our wealth and prosperity. It is widely acknowledged today that ICT as an enabler of broad economic development has surpassed that of the value of the sector itself. As such, ICT will be a competitive tool for growth in the Province for the next several decades. The City of Ottawa has long recognised that ICT is an important and necessary stimulus for both community and economic development. This is evidenced by our investment in telecommunications infrastructure in our community to ensure that all public sector institutions have access to a robust fibre optic network and that all residents and businesses also have access to broadband Internet and the benefits derived from the local ICT industry.
Increasingly, advances in ICT, made possible through significant Research and Development (R&D) investment, are driving important improvements to our quality of life, including aspects of our economy, healthcare, education, government, cleantech, financial and energy industries. For example, the communications-enablement of many traditional IT applications “componentizes” and repackages the network so it can be leveraged in more innovative and effective ways. This approach better supports the communication requirements of various sectors here in Ottawa (e.g. health care, retail, hospitality, finance, energy, etc.), allowing them to more effectively leverage networking to drive the needs of their business and improve service for their clients.
In this difficult economy, highly-skill jobs associated with the ICT sector are particularly at risk – jobs that are critical to the Province’s innovation agenda. The Canadian ICT workforce is currently approaching 600,000 employees. In the current economic climate, the retention of many of these workers is undoubtedly at risk, as companies struggle to deal with increasing competition and market pressures.
High-tech employment is especially critical to communities like Ottawa, as it helps to spawn other jobs in related and support sectors, and helps attract businesses that seek to become part of, and leverage, the ICT ecosystem here. A few large anchor ICT companies like Nortel have helped to trigger a rich ecosystem of supply chain and support companies in Ottawa. The retention of the nearly 82,000 jobs tied to the high tech sector jobs will be a decisive factor for Ottawa’s future economic health. In 2007, Nortel spent approximately $150 million with suppliers and partners in the Ottawa region alone. In addition, Nortel’s employment also supports 18,000 infrastructure positions in the community (based on the commonly recognized model that each high-technology job generates the need for another four jobs in the region’s services sector). This mix of a few large anchor companies and many small businesses and start-ups is important to the success of a strong value chain for Canada’s globally focused ICT sector. As of January 2008, only 8 per cent of Ottawa’s tech companies employed more than 100 people; and 50 per cent of the companies employed fewer than 10 people.
Considering that high tech jobs have a catalytic effect on the economy, the loss of these jobs would have far-reaching consequences at the local, provincial and national levels. As such, investments in ICT will spur new, export ready capabilities and jobs in innovative areas that represent tomorrow's growth industries.
We urge you, therefore, to factor ICT into any economic stimulus/infrastructure investment plans currently being developed – and to take any other measures possible to support this critical Canadian industry. Let’s protect and enhance this vital sector through R & D and infrastructure investment, as well as through all means possible, including improved procurement policy and venture/equity capital support to grow viable ICT companies. Let’s preserve ICT as a Canadian, Ontario and Ottawa core competency and a strategic lever for Canada.
Sincerely,
Mayor Larry O’Brien
cc The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, MPP, Premier of Ontario
The Honourable Jim Watson, MPP, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
L’honorable Madeleine Meilleur, depute provinciale Ministre des Services sociaux et communautaire, Ministre déléguéé aux Affaires francophones
Mr. Phil McNeely, MPP, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure
Mr. Yasir Naqui, MPP, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Revenue
Ms. Lisa MacLeod, MPP
[/FONT]
Media Advisories, News Releases & Public Service Announcements
Media Advisories, News Releases & Public Service Announcements
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Date: Friday 19 December 2008
Contact: Public Affairs (613-580-2450), medias@ottawa.ca [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial]NR: Mayor O’Brien urges government to support information and communication technology sector [/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Ottawa – Mayor Larry O’Brien today urged both the federal and provincial governments to include the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in any future economic stimulus or infrastructure investment plans.
In letters sent to federal Industry Minister Tony Clement and Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant, Mayor O’Brien called on the government to support the ICT sector through research and development, infrastructure investment and other means, including direct support and improved procurement policy.
“The Information and Communication Technology sector is extremely important to the Canadian economy,” said Mayor O’Brien. “The sector employs hundreds of thousands of Canadians, and the potential loss of these jobs would have far-reaching consequences at the local, provincial and national level. The ICT sector also helps generate jobs in other sectors, and they would also suffer if layoffs were required in the high-tech sector.”
The ICT sector employs close to 600,000 people across Canada. Approximately 82,000 jobs are based out of the Ottawa area.
In addition to economic development, the ICT sector drives important improvements to Canadians’ quality of life, including significant contributions to the health care, education, government and energy industries.
“ICT is the cornerstone of Ottawa’s technology industry and is an integral part of the province’s economy, “ said Jeffrey Dale, President and CEO, Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI). “Therefore we look to the federal and provincial governments to ensure that this key sector is well supported.”
The full content of Mayor O’Brien’s letters are attached below.
-30-
For more information:
Media contact
613-580-2450
Kim Cunningham
Manager, External Communications OCRI
613-851-0768
Public inquiries
3-1-1
===============================================================================
The Honourable Tony Clement
Minister of Industry
Industry Canada
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H5
Dear Minister Clement,
Re: Stimulating the ICT industry to Sustain & Strengthen the Economy during and after Economic Downturn
It is our understanding that the federal government is preparing to build an economic stimulus package to address the current economic crisis. In this context, we believe that now is the time to ensure sufficient investment and direct support for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, a linchpin of our Canadian economy. Underpinning this need is the fact that the Canadian ICT industry is being significantly impacted by the current economic downturn, indeed, to a greater extent than most other sectors.
Information and Communication Technology is directly related to a country’s productivity and competitiveness – and, by extension, its wealth and prosperity. It is widely acknowledged today that ICT as an enabler of broad economic development has surpassed that of the value of the sector itself. As such, ICT will be a competitive tool for a country’s growth for the next several decades. The City of Ottawa has long recognised that ICT is an important and necessary stimulus for both community and economic development. This is evidenced by our investment in telecommunications infrastructure in our community to ensure that all public sector institutions have access to a robust fibre optic network and that all residents and businesses also have access to broadband Internet and the benefits derived from the local ICT industry.
Increasingly, advances in ICT, made possible through significant Research and Development (R&D) investment, are driving important improvements to our quality of life, including aspects of our economy, healthcare, education, government, cleantech, financial and energy industries. For example, the communications-enablement of many traditional IT applications “componentizes” and repackages the network so it can be leveraged in more innovative and effective ways. This approach better supports the communication requirements of various sectors in Canada (e.g. health care, retail, hospitality, finance, energy, etc.), allowing them to more effectively leverage networking to drive the needs of their business and improve service for their clients.
In this difficult economy, highly-skilled jobs associated with the ICT sector are particularly at risk – jobs that are critical to the government’s innovation agenda. The Canadian ICT workforce is currently approaching nearly 600,000 employees. In the current economic climate, the retention of many of these jobs in Canada is undoubtedly at risk, as companies struggle to deal with increasing competition and market pressures.
High-tech employment is especially critical to communities like Ottawa, as it helps to spawn other jobs in related and support sectors, and helps attract businesses that seek to become part of the local ICT ecosystem. A few large anchor ICT companies like Nortel have helped to trigger a rich ecosystem of supply chain and support companies in Ottawa. The retention of the nearly 82,000 jobs tied to the high tech sector jobs will be a decisive factor for Ottawa’s future economic health. In 2007, Nortel spent approximately $150 million with suppliers and partners in the Ottawa region alone. In addition, Nortel’s employment also supports 18,000 infrastructure positions in the community (based on the commonly recognized model that each high-technology job generates the need for another four jobs in the region’s services sector). This mix of a few large anchor companies and many small businesses and start-ups is important to the success of a strong value chain for Canada’s globally focused ICT sector. As of January 2008, only 8 per cent of Ottawa’s tech companies employed more than 100 people, and 50 per cent of the companies employed fewer than 10 people.
Considering that high tech jobs have a catalytic effect on the economy, the loss of these jobs would have far-reaching consequences at the local, provincial and national levels. As such, investments in Canadian ICT will spur new, export ready capabilities and jobs in innovative areas that represent tomorrow's growth industries.
We urge you, therefore, to factor ICT into any economic stimulus/infrastructure investment plans currently being developed – and to take any other measures possible to support this critical Canadian industry. Let’s protect and enhance this vital sector through R & D and infrastructure investment, as well as through all means possible, including improved procurement policy and venture/equity capital support to grow viable ICT companies. Let’s preserve ICT as a Canadian, Ontario and Ottawa core competency and a strategic lever for Canada. It is in our National interest to do so.
Sincerely,
Mayor Larry O’Brien
cc The Honourable John Baird, P.C., M.P.
The Honourable Mauril Bélanger, P.C., M.P.
Mr. Pierre Poilievre, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister
Monsieur Royal Galipeau, depute
Mr. David McGuinty, M.P.
Mr. Paul Dewar, M.P.
===================================================================================
The Honourable Michael Bryant
Minister of Economic Development
Ministry of Economic Development
8th Floor, Hearst Block
900 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M7A 2E1
Dear Minister Bryant,
Re: Stimulating the ICT industry to Sustain & Strengthen the Economy during and after Economic Downturn
It is our understanding that the provincial government is preparing to build an economic stimulus package to address the current economic crisis. In this context, we believe that now is the time to ensure sufficient investment and direct support for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, a linchpin of our economy in Ontario. Underpinning this need is the fact that the ICT industry in Ontario is being significantly impacted by the current economic downturn, indeed, to a greater extent than most other sectors.
Information and Communication Technology is directly related to both our productivity and competitiveness – and, by extension, our wealth and prosperity. It is widely acknowledged today that ICT as an enabler of broad economic development has surpassed that of the value of the sector itself. As such, ICT will be a competitive tool for growth in the Province for the next several decades. The City of Ottawa has long recognised that ICT is an important and necessary stimulus for both community and economic development. This is evidenced by our investment in telecommunications infrastructure in our community to ensure that all public sector institutions have access to a robust fibre optic network and that all residents and businesses also have access to broadband Internet and the benefits derived from the local ICT industry.
Increasingly, advances in ICT, made possible through significant Research and Development (R&D) investment, are driving important improvements to our quality of life, including aspects of our economy, healthcare, education, government, cleantech, financial and energy industries. For example, the communications-enablement of many traditional IT applications “componentizes” and repackages the network so it can be leveraged in more innovative and effective ways. This approach better supports the communication requirements of various sectors here in Ottawa (e.g. health care, retail, hospitality, finance, energy, etc.), allowing them to more effectively leverage networking to drive the needs of their business and improve service for their clients.
In this difficult economy, highly-skill jobs associated with the ICT sector are particularly at risk – jobs that are critical to the Province’s innovation agenda. The Canadian ICT workforce is currently approaching 600,000 employees. In the current economic climate, the retention of many of these workers is undoubtedly at risk, as companies struggle to deal with increasing competition and market pressures.
High-tech employment is especially critical to communities like Ottawa, as it helps to spawn other jobs in related and support sectors, and helps attract businesses that seek to become part of, and leverage, the ICT ecosystem here. A few large anchor ICT companies like Nortel have helped to trigger a rich ecosystem of supply chain and support companies in Ottawa. The retention of the nearly 82,000 jobs tied to the high tech sector jobs will be a decisive factor for Ottawa’s future economic health. In 2007, Nortel spent approximately $150 million with suppliers and partners in the Ottawa region alone. In addition, Nortel’s employment also supports 18,000 infrastructure positions in the community (based on the commonly recognized model that each high-technology job generates the need for another four jobs in the region’s services sector). This mix of a few large anchor companies and many small businesses and start-ups is important to the success of a strong value chain for Canada’s globally focused ICT sector. As of January 2008, only 8 per cent of Ottawa’s tech companies employed more than 100 people; and 50 per cent of the companies employed fewer than 10 people.
Considering that high tech jobs have a catalytic effect on the economy, the loss of these jobs would have far-reaching consequences at the local, provincial and national levels. As such, investments in ICT will spur new, export ready capabilities and jobs in innovative areas that represent tomorrow's growth industries.
We urge you, therefore, to factor ICT into any economic stimulus/infrastructure investment plans currently being developed – and to take any other measures possible to support this critical Canadian industry. Let’s protect and enhance this vital sector through R & D and infrastructure investment, as well as through all means possible, including improved procurement policy and venture/equity capital support to grow viable ICT companies. Let’s preserve ICT as a Canadian, Ontario and Ottawa core competency and a strategic lever for Canada.
Sincerely,
Mayor Larry O’Brien
cc The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, MPP, Premier of Ontario
The Honourable Jim Watson, MPP, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
L’honorable Madeleine Meilleur, depute provinciale Ministre des Services sociaux et communautaire, Ministre déléguéé aux Affaires francophones
Mr. Phil McNeely, MPP, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure
Mr. Yasir Naqui, MPP, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Revenue
Ms. Lisa MacLeod, MPP
[/FONT]
