Montreal working group formed to improve city's business outlook

[hockey19]

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-working-group-formed-to-improve-citys-business-outlook

 

Montreal has considerable assets when we think of our quality of life, of our spot as the second largest pool of higher-education students in North America and certainly when we think of how safe it is…” Hubert said.

 

There should be a working group that looks at how to retain students. It's all about retention. Students come here from abroad, live for cheap, party hard and then leave. Aside from high taxes, this should be highest priority.

[MtlMan]

I agree wholeheartedly.

[andre md]

Taxes and bureaucracy are real problems in Quebec. Language not so much an issue. A bunch of presidents at Bombardier are unlingual , Couche Tard CEO is an anglo . Agropur having 2 unilingual anglo vice-president.

 

 

http://affaires.lapresse.ca/economie/agroalimentaire/201602/11/01-4949622-vp-unilingues-chez-agropur-un-retour-en-arriere-deplore-la-csn.php

 

Do we need another study, working group to figure out that Montreal is over-taxed, over-bureaucratic, has poor economic prospects, and that language easing would be a major boost.

[hockey19]

Taxes and bureaucracy are real problems in Quebec. Language not so much an issue. A bunch of presidents at Bombardier are unlingual , Couche Tard CEO is an anglo . Agropur having 2 unilingual anglo vice-president.

 

 

http://affaires.lapresse.ca/economie/agroalimentaire/201602/11/01-4949622-vp-unilingues-chez-agropur-un-retour-en-arriere-deplore-la-csn.php

 

Yes and no. Job skills should be priority for immigration, not language.

 

My 4 point strategy for Montréal would be:

1) Lower business taxes

2) Reduce red tape

3) Reform immigration to make job skills the number one priority (after security of course)

4) Create a government placement agency, which would pair foreign students with employers, upon graduation.

[andre md]

I agree mostly on everything , but language isn't the main issue as i could see many companies having unilingual anglos presidents this shows that you could attract top talent even if they don't speak french.

 

My 4 main priorities would be

 

Top 1 Lower taxes on salaries (assurance parentale , CSST, pension etc....)

Top 2 Reducing the regulation and permit and hassle to do business (permit , delay etc...)

Top 3 Select immigrant from southern europe (portugal, spain, italy greece) well educated and not religious fanatic. Latins for most of them then easier to learn french if they have to.

Top 4 Get a student exchange program like Erasmus to send student from quebec to other cities around the world and attract student from abroad.

 

 

Yes and no. Job skills should be priority for immigration, not language.

 

My 4 point strategy for Montréal would be:

1) Lower business taxes

2) Reduce red tape

3) Reform immigration to make job skills the number one priority (after security of course)

4) Create a government placement agency, which would pair foreign students with employers, upon graduation.

[vivreenrégion]

Cependant le futur ici c'est de développer nos propres compagnies. Même si on peut aller chercher des compagnies étrangères, il faut du made in Quebec, sinon on dépend des autres. Je crois qu'on devrait pousser très fort ici pour la réalité virtuelle, c'est la prochaine grosse révolution.

[steve_36]

How to fix downtown Montreal

Feb 10, 2016

 

Montreal is suffocating. And more than any other part, downtown is near death. It is time to put into action some measures of relief and revival.

 

Montreal is some two-thirds of Quebec’s GDP. Downtown is half of Montreal’s. Are we clear on its importance?

 

What does it mean if downtown dies? It’s not just about losing excitement and entertainment. It’s about your taxes going up to make up the losses. Successive administrations, city and borough, have skewered our economic engine in the name of political correctness and vote-pandering. It’s time for them to stop.

 

Politicians have made accessibility harder by demonizing drivers. They’ve reduced parking spaces and increased meter rates. All this in the name of something called “sustainable development.” Well, one thing that is happening is that there is no development to sustain.

 

Downtown has more empty storefronts than at any time since the Doré administration. That squeezes the tax base. That means record property tax increases for everyone, instead of increasing the business tax base. It is not sustainable. We are headed for disaster. As unattractive as it is to go downtown now with parking so difficult, and expensive when it is found, it is going to get worse with tolls on bridges. And we can’t have our downtown made less attractive. We need to make it more attractive. Add to these micro problems, is the macro reality that as of last year Montreal was dead last in major North American cities in exonomic growth and investment.

 

Here are some solutions.

 

-Give back some of the 1200 parking spaces taken out of use in the past several years.

 

-Close some bike paths and Bixi stations if necessary to do it. 400,000 people come downtown every day. Only 25,000 use the bike paths, when weather permits. And the Bixi is a money loser for Montreal and every other city that bought it.

 

-Drop the parking meter rate and extend the one-time drop time to three hours from the current two. Let people have some time to spend in movies, restaurants and stores. The meters are the number one complaint of merchants.

 

-In order to give some relief to small business owners who produce 80% of new jobs, start reducing their taxes and expand and broaden the tax base by allowing air rights for more real estate development.

 

-Rein in the Comités consultative des quartiers that are crushing development. Give them limited parameters and limit the time in which they have to make decisions. Money doesn`t hang around waiting for kumbaya circles.

 

-Negotiate an exemption from the provincial no-smoking law to allow smoking-only establishments. Restaurants and bars have seen a 20-25% drop off in clientele since the law went into effect. Study after study show that smokers spend more. This is not a suggestion to return to smoking areas. This is a suggestion to respect freedom of commerce and property. Businesspeople know that 75% of the population does not smoke. But let them decide to make the business decision to cater to that part that does. It will immediately see a rise in revenues and taxes to the city and province.

 

-Negotiate a deal with the federal government that a percentage of the bridge tolls be given to the city to be used for infrastructure and public transit improvements that will make traffic circulation easier in the downtown core.

 

-Get special status from Quebec for Montreal that includes exemptions from the language laws for foreign executives and investors.

 

-Make sure Montreal city hall is de facto bilingual in that citizens and businesses don't have to jump through hoops to get information in English.

 

That`s our top nine for a start. It`s not a panacea, but it will stop the suffocation and bring business and spenders back. The motor of our economic engine needs an oil change. Assez cèst assez!

 

http://www.thesuburban.com/opinion/editorials/how-to-fix-downtown-montreal/article_2d4db1e8-a016-5398-a50a-8236c3bd62a5.html

 

Grosso modo je suis d'accord avec les solutions avancées mais je ne suis pas d'accord pour dire que le downtown est ''near death''. Je crois que c'est beaucoup exagéré.

[vivreenrégion]

ses histoires de fumeurs qui dépensent plus, bin oui, New York et de nombreuses grandes villes ont des règlements encore plus sévères qu'ici. Le PIB de Montréal est seulement la moitié de celui du Qc, pas le 2/3. Il parle des toll sur les bridges, bin oui le grand, Champlain ne sera pas payant. Bixi est maintenant en profit depuis que la direction a changé. etc.... tout son texte c'est dla grosse scrap , des faussetés, on dirait qu'il fait exprès pour être aussi mauvais.

 

C'est un nostalgique, il se souvient du temps où les guichets automatiques n'existaient pas encore.

Modifié 12 février 2016 par vivreenrégion

[vivreenrégion]

Montréal à l'aube d'une Renaissance?

 

En 2005, Montréal empochait 14 % du capital de risque dépensé au Canada, soit 145 millions de dollars, et huit ans plus tard, elle en accaparait 32 %, soit 633 M$, selon une récente étude du Martin Prosperity Institute de l'université de Toronto, signée par Karen King et Richard Florida.

Toujours selon cette étude, Montréal arrive aujourd'hui en tête au Canada, devant Vancouver et Toronto, les surclassant en particulier dans les secteurs de l'industrie, de l'énergie et de la finance. Mieux encore, elle figure dans le top 20 mondial des métropoles où le capital de risque contribue le plus au produit intérieur brut (PIB) de la région

http://www.lesaffaires.com/blogues/l-economie-en-version-corsee/montreal-a-l-aube-d-une-renaissance/585260

[MtlMan]

ses histoires de fumeurs qui dépensent plus, bin oui, New York et de nombreuses grandes villes ont des règlements encore plus sévères qu'ici. Le PIB de Montréal est seulement la moitié de celui du Qc, pas le 2/3. Il parle des toll sur les bridges, bin oui le grand, Champlain ne sera pas payant. Bixi est maintenant en profit depuis que la direction a changé. etc.... tout son texte c'est dla grosse scrap , des faussetés, on dirait qu'il fait exprès pour être aussi mauvais.

 

C'est un nostalgique, il se souvient du temps où les guichets automatiques n'existaient pas encore.

 

En effet. Ce gars est un dinosaure qui ne comprend pas que le règne des mammifères est arrivé....