Guest Post: Burlington Among Ontario Cities Recognized as fDi Cities of the Future
The below article was first published on investinontario.com.Several Ontario cities were once again featured prominently in the 2019/2020 American Cities of the Future report. fDi, a division of Financial Times Limited, ranked 421 locations across North and South America in five categories: economic potential, business friendliness, human capital and lifestyle, cost-effectiveness and connectivity.This year, Canadian cities, many in Ontario, dominated the business friendliness category, proving that the province has many opportunities for new and established businesses.The Ontario cities named in the 2019/2020 report across all categories include Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, London, Hamilton, Kitchener, Cambridge and Burlington.Additional “cities to watch” include: Ottawa, Oakville, Markham, Guelph, Waterloo, Windsor, Niagara Falls, Brantford, Sarnia, Sudbury, Chatham-Kent, Kingston and Pickering.Burlington: One of the best places to live and do business in CanadaConsistently ranked as one of Canada’s best places to live, Burlington also placed 23rd in FDI strategy, according to fDi’s 2019/2020 report. Its strategic location including being near several top post-secondary institutions has attracted a number of high-profile companies in a range of industries. This includes everything from advanced manufacturing, food processing, metal fabrication and packaging to financial services, IT, life sciences and transportation and logistics.MY TAKE:Being recognized this way is absolutely great news for the City of Burlington and further reinforces our city’s commitment to being open for business both locally and globally. All this goes hand-in-hand with the Red Tape Red Carpet Task Force I launched as Mayor earlier this year. The Task Force’s mission is to better understand the challenges (the red tape) to locating and expanding a business in Burlington, and to find solutions that will better serve our local businesses (the red carpet) that are already operating here.I am thrilled Council unanimously approved all 22 recommendations from the RTRC Task Force on Sept. 23 and have full confidence that we will see positive and lasting change as a result. The process to implement some of the recommendations has already begun and that we are making it easier to do business in Burlington, by retaining, expanding and attracting employers.RELATED LINK: