Ontario: Jobs

Sonoco Products Dept: Over the past five to six years, many manufacturing companies have closed shop in Ontario as the province lost competitiveness due to a dollar trading at approximate parity with the U.S. companies like Collins & Aikman in Guelph 500 jobs , Interforest in Durham 120 jobs , Crane Valves in Brantford 88 jobs , Sonoco Products in Cambridge 100 jobs , Siemens in Hamilton 550 jobs , FRAM in Stratford 300 jobs and many more across the province. As companies consolidate operations in North America, Ontario has a tough time making the case to keep operations here, according to The Star. The high dollar, by hitting manufacturing hard, is eroding Ontario s tax base and contributing to the deficit and to Ontario s high unemployment rate and blame it on Alberta s oilsands. Last month, Ontario s premier pickle company, Bick s Pickles, closed its production facilities in southern Ontario and moved its operations to the U.S. The high value of the Canadian dollar was an important factor in a corporate decision that cost 150 regular jobs here. Bick s is not alone feeling the impact of what some are calling the Alberta dollar. In other instances Ontario has lost out to the U.S. or Mexico when investment decisions were being made. The tourist industry has suffered as well. A U.S. visitor to Toronto, Stratford, Niagara-on-the-Lake or Muskoka would have paid $127.40 U.S. in 2002 for a hotel room that cost 200 Canadian dollars. Last year the American visitor would have paid $202 U.S. , or almost 60 per cent more. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.