Oshawa Mayor calls on business leaders to “embrace the future” in annual State of the City address

Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter honoured the resilience of residents and the business community during the past two years while calling for renewed hope and optimism and “embracing the future” in his 2022 State of the City Address.

Carter was speaking to an audience of business and community leaders on March 30 at the Greater Oshawa Chamber of Commerce’s annual Mayor’s Luncheon.

Carter began his speech thanking local businesses and partner organizations for rising to the challenge during the pandemic and finding innovative new ways to continue to deliver services, keep staff safe and serve the community. But he also focused on a bright future for the city and urged local leaders to continue to work in partnership with the City and one another.

“This moment in history has taught us a great deal about the strength of the Oshawa community and our businesses,” the mayor said. “Great cities do hard things; they solve big issues and create new opportunities to achieve success.”

Carter spoke about Oshawa’s strength and resilience, pointing out that despite the pandemic, there has been significant investment in the city: Oshawa issued more than $470 million in building permit values in 2020 and more than $560 million in 2021 – the second-highest total on record.

Investment from global leaders in industry and development are bringing new quality jobs to Oshawa, and in some cases, bringing jobs back, he said, pointing to the $1.3 billion re-opening of GM’s Oshawa Assembly plant.

That plant re-opening created nearly 1,800 jobs – more than half of them women – and Carter also highlighted the company’s $170 million investment in a 55-acre autonomous vehicle test track and new stamping manufacturing facility, positioning Oshawa to play a major role in a new competitive auto industry.

Carter said Oshawa has become a “community of choice” for new homeowners from across Canada looking for a great city in which to live and work and cited the city’s leadership role in health care, post-secondary education and information technology, thanks to the presence of Durham College, Ontario Tech University and Trent University Durham.

“This is a special time for the great City of Oshawa and our future is bright,” he said. “Let us embrace our future together.”