What do businesses need? People.

Area federal and provincial representatives weigh in on the issues they’re hearing about the most from local enterprise

Story and photographs by Rob Perry Elgin-Middlesex-London veteran MP Karen Vecchio and rookie MPP Rob Flack agree that the only thing their riding needs to prosper in future is… more people.

“We’re creating jobs and we’re building a robust economy,” MPP Flack said in an interview in late August.

“So, we’ve got the jobs, the factories, the investments, the business start-ups.

“What are we short of?

We’re short on people and skilled trades to take on those jobs.”

That’s the top issue he’s been hearing about from local businesses and industries since becoming an MPP in the provincial election in June, he said.

As a previous chief executive officer for Masterfeeds, he recalled the company had issues hiring staff out west when the petroleum industry was booming, because it paid unskilled workers $50 an hour.

“But we never had an issue finding skilled people to work in our feed plants,” he said. He’s never seen such a shortage in skilled trades looking for work as he has in the last 18 months, ranging from steamfitters to transport drivers.

He kept hearing from companies that they needed those skilled workers to make their businesses work and grow.

Part of that work force had been lost to early retirements during the pandemic, he be- lieved, but most of the shortage was just due to the growth of business outstripping the province’s ability to produce new workers to fill an increased number of jobs.

More young persons needed to be encouraged and educated in those trades, but the schooling process took time, he said.

“We all need nurses, but you can’t just snap your fingers and obtain them,” he pointed out.

He believed immigration of up to 2-million newcomers to Ontario over the next 10 years had to be part of the solution. The process of allowing them into Canada and Ontario needed to be sped up.

MP Vecchio agreed that the top priority for businesses and industries right now was finding workers to fill jobs.

“It’s about creating the environment for business to come,” she said about attracting new industries to Elgin-MiddlesexLondon, as well as encouraging homegrown businesses to grow locally.

A whole variety of factors went into making an area welcoming not just for commercial and industrial growth, but also to draw in and accommodate the additional workers who were needed, such as good schools, public transportation systems now missing in most rural areas, and municipalities seeking residential growth.

Housing has been a particularly challenging issue recently, because of the rapid escalation in house values and rents in the last two years, she noted. So was public transportation in rural areas. Maple Leaf Foods was bringing a new chicken-processing plant to London, but the only workers with public transit access to it would come from that city.

Rural and urban needs when it came to commercial and industrial growth were very different, she noted.

To overcome challenges and grow the local economy, everyone had to be working together, “from the ground up.” That meant creating a better environment for business in general to prosper in.

“Baptism by fire”

When asked why he had decided to run for office after a successful business and farm- ing career, MPP Flack said, “I really do sincerely believe in giving back to my community and the industry I work in.”

Public service had become much-maligned in recent years, he continued, but he’d never lost his desire to run for office.

“It’s a little bit of baptism by fire right now,” with the legislature sitting for the first time since he was elected. The nature of Ontario politics meant that, while in the legislature, he had to be a partisan, but what he enjoyed most about his new job was coming home on Fridays and the weekend and working with local residents, helping them get the services or other help they needed from the province. location in which to do business.

“That is the thrill,” he stated. His goals when it came to business and industry were to try to reduce the government red tape they faced.

“I don’t believe bigger government is necessarily better government,” he stated. He also wanted to advocate for farmers and the agriculture industry, where he came from. Southwestern Ontario was “a Garden of Eden” when it came to tilling the land, with unbelievably fertile soil and a good climate thanks to the influence of the Great Lakes.

2017 - owner of Spare Moments Crafts Supplies at the east end of Aylmer, loves making decorative wreaths and floral arrangements, both for weddings and home décor. She and her husband Abe have owned the business for 26 years, and three years ago expanded it after closing their Countryside Inn motel operation. Moving into former motel building, after extensive renovations, doubled her floor space to 2,400 square feet.