[Emanuel Nicolescu]

Hello,

I'm a Torontonian who likes to keep an eye out on Hamilton. My impression is that the siderurgical complex in Hamilton is there to stay for decades to come. It would be illogical to throw away Hamilton's history with steel and its geographic advantages. We will always need steel products, and we won't always have cheap petroleum products to ship steel from Asia. At some point in the future, manufacture will come back home out of necessity. The sites that will have kept their locational advantages will be the most competitive when that time comes. By its very nature, the market will try to prolong the current state and avoid that time, but wise governments would be wise to encourage acceptance of the inevitable.

Cities are pushed to become service hubs, yet at the same time we see corporations off-shoring IT and other high-paying service jobs to Latin America and Asia where labour is more competitive (read: cheap). Our competitiveness therefore becomes reliant on over-education. Whereas in the past the middle-class made up the largest component of the population and sustained itself through manufacturing jobs, it is now shrinking and the population is polarizing. In spite of what Florida and others like to preach, we can't all make six figure salaries working in the media industry or playing with inflated virtual assets. We live in a physical reality and sooner or later, someone has to produce something tangible to keep the whole construct operational.

I'm surprised by Hamilton's apparent complex of inferiority, especially when it comes to the steel image. The hammer should be proud of its history and its productive capacity. Replacing the mills - a productive element - with condos - a comsuming element - does not seem wise in the long term. Steel is there for a reason, it would be a gross error to forget that. At a time when we strive for cleaner technology, we musn't forget that wind turbines, rail and electrical vehicles all need steel. We can either buy it and transport it from somewhere else, or produce it locally.

All of this applies to most any other city and economy.

Regards,
Emanuel