An economic resurgence for Hamilton?
'I can't think of one thing that is stopping you from being the economic powerhouse of this country. You've got to stop and realize what you've got to work with.'
Meredith Macleod, May 3, 2008
The Hamilton Spectator, TheSpec.com
mmacleod@thespec.com 905-526-3408
'Hamilton should be the leading city in Canada." The words seemed to lift a powerhouse crowd, already teeming with enthusiasm, to new levels of aspiration.
Glen Murray, former mayor of Winnipeg and now president of the Canadian Urban Institute, was the final speaker at the first-ever Hamilton Economic Summit this week.
After about seven hours of listening to speakers and engaging in group discussions, a crowd of 125 civic leaders literally crammed into a meeting room at the Ancaster Old Mill was hooked on his every word.
Many even urged the dynamic Murray to keep speaking as the day's moderator rushed him to stay on schedule.
Murray said Hamilton has the location, highways, border access, airport, rail and port infrastructure, proximity to Canada's biggest market, health and education facilities and all the natural and built amenities to achieve greatness.
It's a list Hamiltonians have heard before, but Murray's breathless fervour and the day's overflowing optimism about the prospects for the city's future took it all to the level of a tent revival meeting.
"I can't think of one thing that is stopping you from being the economic powerhouse of this country," he said. "You've got to stop and realize what you've got to work with."
The summit was an unprecedented gathering of leaders from a vast cross-section of the city. Organizers hoped it would trigger discussion about what is holding this city back and more importantly, find ways to spur an economic revival many have predicted for years.
Hamilton International Airport president and CEO Richard Koroscil tirelessly promoted the event and encouraged a cross-section of the city to take part.
The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event, sent out 200 invitations, expecting 60 or 80 to attend. They were swamped with replies and sold out five weeks before the summit. Fifty more people sat on a waiting list.
Participants marvelled at the gathering.
"Stop and think about who's here," summit co-chair and Mohawk president MaryLynn West-Moynes told the crowd as the day began.
"I'm confident you would not find a more industrious, hard-working, visionary, hard-nosed, community-minded group anywhere ... To me, you are what is impressive about today."
As the day progressed, the typically Hamilton penchant to wring hands about the past, what has been lost or opportunities missed failed to appear.
There was also an absence of finger-pointing, despite the presence of political and bureaucratic leaders often blamed for a lack of progress for the city.
Instead, there was widespread confirmation of the city's vision: "To be the best city in Canada to raise a child, promote innovation, engage citizens and provide diverse economic opportunities."
There was broad consensus that the community must aim for dramatic and significant change and that the old ways of doing things can't carry us forward.
In the words of one group of leaders, "we need a moon shoot and to harness our current fear factor."
Most spoke of the need to change Hamilton's image of itself, celebrate its stories and to communicate that beyond the city.
In practical terms, many leaders want to see Hamilton become one of Canada's top cities in less than a decade. The city is currently middle of the road, at 15th out of 27 cities over 100,000, ranked by the Conference Board of Canada.
The ranking has seven criteria. Even on measures normally celebrated in Hamilton, such as education (14th) and health (10th), the city has a lot of room for improvement.
Groups called for achieving a ranking of top five or even top three.
There are many experts who agree Hamilton is poised for growth. The Conference Board of Canada predicts that Hamilton's economy will rank 21st this year among the 27 biggest cities but that rapid growth expected to start next year will push Hamilton to eighth.
"You have the cornerstones in place to have a truly successful city," board chief economist Glenn Hodgson told the summit.
"You have the opportunity to go from good to great."
Hamilton ranked 11th on the board's innovation scale; Hodgson said that points to a "thinking city" which can focus on value-added manufacturing and services.
"Economist therapist" James Gollub, senior vice-president of consulting firm ICF International, says Hamilton has a healthy portfolio of economic clusters, including health and biomedical, steel, automotive parts manufacturing, agriculture and food processing and transportation and logistics.
The city's largest employment sectors are information, professional services and finance, said Gollub, whose firm examined Hamilton's economy in a study of six communities for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.
He said the city should focus on fostering an environment for new enterprises that keep a local economy vibrant, and matching up financing with innovation.
He suggests a priority should be placed on intermodal transportation linking air, rail and port shipping.
He stressed that Hamilton should take responsibility for economic development out of City Hall, where its focus is too narrow and it's constrained by budgets, politics and red tape.
"Traditional economic development is a failure in North America. It only works on the margins and can't transform an economy. An economy transforms itself."
Gollub said the summit will only succeed if a formal, independent body is put in place that partners institutions with industries. He said Hamilton has been crippled by a failure to communicate and an inability to build consensus.
"I work all over Canada but I believe you are extraordinary people," he said.
"You have lots of ideas and great honour, but I believe you have trouble working together."
Ex-Winnipeg mayor Murray urged the city to embrace a risk-taking, entrepreneurial spirit and encourage those who will invest money.
"All the heritage-loving people in the world can embrace, hold hands and sing Kumbaya and it will never levitate the Lister Block," Murray said, referring to Hamilton's downtown derelict building.
"The people who will save the downtown are the ones who will make money saving the downtown."
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