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LETTER: Where have all the jobs gone?

To the editor: , I write this letter to you in the hopes of an effort on my part, to bring to light the employment issues that are running rampant within the city of Thunder Bay and have been for the last several years (if not more) in this city and

To the editor:
,
I write this letter to you in the hopes of an effort on my part, to bring to light the employment issues that are running rampant within the city of Thunder Bay and have been for the last several years (if not more) in this city and the surrounding region.

I will be honest in saying that I am a student, so this issue does not affect me as greatly as non-students.  Though this issue does affect me in a more limited fashion, I have not been able to find part-time work in this city for over two years, and not for a lack of effort. 

As I have understood, there were a total of six pulp mills in the vicinity of Thunder Bay, only one of which remains.  I do not know the various reasons for the closures, but I have seen what it has done to the local economy.  Many of the former mill workers have been forced to take jobs where they can get them, typically at the cost of the students, and outside their chosen fields.  Though I do not begrudge this in any way, this in itself has had a detrimental effect on the local economy, creating a void where there was once a large sector of employment opportunity.

The primary reason I write in about this is my roommate.  My current roommate is an electrical apprentice in his second term.  He has been unemployed for over a year now, due to a series of governmental inefficiencies and slow-moving deals with OPG.  When he was working, he was working for a local company that was retrofitting the former home of Fibratech Manufacturing in Atikokan to produce bio-pellets as a fuel replacement for the Atikokan Generating Station.

But due to MPP Michael Gravelle scrapping the wood-fibre allocation process, the plant's retrofitting was brought to a halt.  He is now forced to search for work in every field other than his chosen line of work. 

The question that remains is what are the provincial and federal governments doing to help alleviate this issue?   Statistics Canada lists the Thunder Bay unemployment rate at 6.2 per cent.  This is an arbitrary assumption seeing as how they are only counting those that are currently collecting Employment Insurance (and is stated as such on the website), something of which has run out for my friend. 

So for those whose benefits have run out, they are categorized as jobless and are not counted in the arbitrary system that Statistics Canada utilizes.  So the number of 6.2 per cent is worthless, and is likely much higher than stated on the site.  How much higher is beyond me to calculate. 

However, I will be happy to point out that some efforts have been made to alleviate the employment issues in the city.  Michael Gravelle has instated a project in the last year or so for an expansion of Highway 11/17 that also includes a new highway extension/bypass that runs from Nipigon to Thunder Bay.  This project has created many positions in the construction industry, and has helped many men with families to feed.  Though I have a qualm with the overall plan of the expansion; which is that the bypass route is unnecessary and a complete waste of money, what is wrong with just simply expanding what is already present?  I don't have answer to this query, though it has created jobs for the time being.

Another major building project, which is a joint effort between the federal and provincial governments, is the consolidated court house that has been located on Miles Street East and Brodie Street North.  Now the idea of eliminating the bus terminal from here and moving it to city hall was a fair idea, and I give kudos to that idea. 

The problem in this, is the consolidation of the provincial and federal courthouses.  What was wrong with the old court house?  The last time I checked, the building was in very good shape and still very usable, and could be used for the next 10 to 15 years with regular upkeep. 

While, yes, this gives a boost to the trades that is much needed in the employment sector, it is still a waste of money that could be put to far better use.  I appreciate the need for jobs, but at what cost?  Will this project help to create permanent positions in the trades over the course of the long term?  No.  All it serves to do, is to create jobs for the short term, and then transplant those in the positions needed at the new court house from the old court house.  This in no way  serves the employment field in the long term.  So where does this leave the tradesman involved in the project when it is completed?  Right where they began.

Another major issue in the city today is the lack of grain coming through this once thriving port city.  Thunder Bay used to be a grain hub for export and domestic transportation. 

Back in the 1950s, a cousin of mine who was attending Queen's University for Marine Biology, would hitchhike from Kingston to Thunder Bay at the end of every school year to work on the docks here in the city. 

Today, all grain is shipped south on barges down the Mississippi, effectively making the grain elevators defunct here.  Why was this allowed?  Why is the government allowing jobs to be eliminated by foreign competitors? 

This is not the only area that is affected by closures to this kind.  In Dunnville, Ontario, south-east of Hamilton, there was a Bick's pickles plant that employed a good number of people.  Now it has closed for various reasons, leaving all these people out of work.  My father, who is native to this area, remembers as a young boy when Dunnville was a thriving commercial and industrial centre, but Dunnville has been dying a very slow death economically for over 40 years.

Thunder Bay is now dying that same slow death.

Because of the economic issues that weigh upon the city's shoulders, the real estate market has been suffering greatly in the area.  I currently live in an old post war built house, very well-built, and has stood the test of time.  These houses are worth the price one would pay.  On one of the real-estate listings online for Thunder Bay, a 1,600 square foot house is going for just under $65,000. 

A house in Simcoe, Ontario (about 45 minutes southwest of Hamilton) with the same square footage is on the market, priced at $169,000.  The older houses in Thunder Bay are listed for as low as $52,000; a price that is unheard of in Southern Ontario.  Houses that are listed and look to be in similar condition, go for anywhere between $130,000 and $180,000. 

Real estate prices, from what I have seen and heard, tend to reflect the current economic status of the areas one is looking in.  If the real estate prices in the Thunder Bay region show anything, it is the fact that the region is suffering from a deep economic recession that hinges upon the precipice of a depression. 

I have also compared the prices of the newer houses in both the north and the south, and have found little difference.  Though even the Re-Max site for Thunder Bay tell its economic tale.  It weaves a story of the land developers having issues selling the property that they have begun to develop.  This story is told through the pictures that are displayed on the site.  The pictures are of the artist concepts that are provided for showcasing and billboard advertisements.  So even in this aspect of the market is struggling to make its economic impact.  So even in the house building industry, employment is limited. 

Another project that is currently ongoing, as foolish as it may be, is the restructuring of the gorgeous Marina Park.  This endeavour has reduced the size of the park itself by half in order to make room for a condominium building located where the beach was. 

This project, while it makes work for those in need of it, it takes away from the natural beauty that one would behold.  Creating such a private community on the lakefront could be beneficial on the economic level, though with the current state of the real estate business and the economy, who can afford to buy into this? 

I have walked this park many times in my years here in Thunder Bay, and relish it for the tranquility that it holds for me.  Now, developers are tarnishing the tranquil nature of the park, which has been a well used source of tourism for it scenic nature and boating during the summer.  Tourism is a large source of income for the city of Thunder Bay, and the park should be kept that way by not reducing the size of the most gorgeous park in the city.

The point of this letter and the point of hoping to have it printed is to start getting the answers we deserve from our elected officials, from our own city council, and right up to Parliament Hill.  The public in Thunder Bay does not deserve what they are forced to live through today.  I, and many others I am sure, would like answers to this, and would like to see money injected into the infrastructure of this city, bringing it back to life.  If it does not happen soon, the local economy will collapse in on itself, compounding a localized recession in our area of Ontario.

Gregory Gowling,
Thunder Bay

 





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