DAVE UPHAM / RYERSON UNIVERSITY
11
p Ryerson University professor Roberto Botelho is Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Science and Technologies.
A Landscape of Quality
Wherever they are in the GTA, Greater Toronto’s Top Employers just keep getting better
C
andy, cars, colleges and casinos. That’s an edgy way of looking at this 10th annual list of Greater Toronto’s Top Employers. We’re talking geographically. At the four furthermost corners of the Greater Toronto Area’s tilted rectangle, you will find confectioner Mars Canada in Bolton in the northwest, Ford Motor Company in Oakville in the southwest, Durham College of Applied Arts and Technology in Oshawa in the southeast and the Great Blue Heron Charity Casino just outside Port Perry in the northeast. Does the word diversity come to mind? It should. Diversity of organizations, diversity of people, diversity of place. That has been
the hallmark of the Greater Toronto list for a decade, and it continues in this 2016 edition, reflecting the size and power of the GTA.
peninsula jutting into Lake Scugog in Durham Region, it may seem to many Torontonians more like an escape from the GTA.
Between those four corporate compass points are some of Canada’s largest and best-known employers, from RBC in downtown Toronto to Canadian Tire at Yonge and Eglinton. Many are also global household names, such as Samsung Electronics Canada in Mississauga and Mazda Canada in Richmond Hill. From the Lakefront to Newmarket, there are lawyers, health professionals, educators, charities and government organizations. Not to mention giants of entertainment, communications, technology and consumer products, downtown, uptown and crosstown.
But CEO and General Manager Arnold Block is firm. “We are definitely part of the GTA,” he says. “We’re in the geographic boundaries, of course, but the GTA is also the catchment area where our customers come from, and our staff.”
But even at the furthest reaches of the 7,000-square-kilometre GTA, there are clear elements of commonality. Take the Great Blue Heron Charity Casino, honoured this year for the first time. With its countryside location on a
One of those staff members is Alana Cawker, who grew up in nearby Sunderland. To her, Greater Toronto’s fabled diversity of people is one of the advantages of her job. “Because our casino is so multicultural,” she says, “it’s a great opportunity for me, coming from a small town, to learn about different cultures.” That’s the GTA, all right. And this year, Great Blue Heron has made its way onto the list of Top Employers because it delivers on its belief that keeping its employees engaged is essential