Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members.
Michael, a very happy birthday to you.
Committee members, thank you for the invitation to present to the committee.
I'm Rakesh Naidu, president and CEO of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce. I'm presenting a Windsor-Essex perspective on the labour shortage and its impact on SMEs. My comments reflect what we are hearing from our industry associations and the frontline business community.
Windsor-Essex is located at the heart of the richest consumer market in the world, where more than half of the North American population lives within a day's drive. The 10th largest market in the U.S., metropolitan Detroit, is less than one mile away, just across the Detroit River. This unique geographical location makes Windsor-Essex an ideal location for trade.
It's no wonder that, of the more than 1,000 manufacturers in Windsor-Essex, 90% are exporters. Windsor-Essex has a significant auto cluster, including OEMs and many large tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers. There are more than 3,000 acres of greenhouses in Ontario. Approximately 80% of them are in Windsor-Essex, and 80% of what they produce is exported.
From being the automotive capital of Canada, Windsor-Essex is fast evolving as the automobility capital of Canada. We recently attracted the investment of a $5-billion EV battery plant. Additionally, Stellantis confirmed an investment of $3.2 billion in retooling the Windsor and Brampton assembly operations. Stellantis also confirmed an investment to create 650 new R and D jobs at the research and development centre in Windsor-Essex. Amazon announced the opening of a fulfillment centre in the area, which will create 300 new jobs. These recent announcements equate to approximately 4,000 new jobs by the year 2024, not to mention the third shift coming back at the Windsor assembly operation, which will add a few more thousand jobs.
Year 2024 will be a major milestone year for the Windsor-Essex region, not just for the reasons mentioned. It will also be the year when the Gordie Howe International Bridge will get fully operational. The new international crossing will create further opportunities for business, specifically in the logistics and transportation sector.
While all the recent investments and upcoming opportunities give rise a great deal of optimism for the region of Windsor-Essex and I would say all of Canada, we are concerned that the labour shortage may not help us in tapping into the full potential of these announcements and the jobs that are likely to be created.
In a recent annual business confidence survey carried out by the chamber network in Ontario, 62% of businesses said that their sectors are facing a labour shortage. The situation in Windsor-Essex is very similar. This is further compounded by the aging population of the workforce and retiring employees who don't have a good succession plan.
We believe that immigration can provide much-needed relief to some of the challenges mentioned earlier. The Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce has been leading an initiative to launch a municipal nominee program that will identify the needs of the community, specifically the employers in the region, and bring skilled and professional immigrants who will meet and match the needs of the employers. A proposal to do a pilot study was presented to the ministry of IRCC.
Another sector that has tremendous potential in the Windsor-Essex region is the logistics and transportation sector. The border crossing in Windsor-Essex is one of the busiest commercial crossings in North America. The importance of the border crossing was highlighted during the recent pandemic and the bridge blockade. The trucking industry moves approximately two thirds of the half a billion dollars worth of goods that cross the border on a daily basis. However, the industry is experiencing major challenges, and if these shortages are not addressed, this will lead to further supply chain disruptions, an increased cost of doing business and a rise in inflation.
The two major issues affecting the industry are driver shortage—currently we are approximately 50,000 truckers short in Canada—and the rising cost of doing business, specifically for SMEs. Small businesses typically pay more for hiring and training, for insurance and even for equipment.
To address this, the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce recently successfully tabled a resolution at the OCC AGM calling for immediate measures to be taken to address some of the challenges. The proposed recommendations include increasing immigration and bringing in internationally trained drivers, implementing and adjusting the driving requirements to allow new international truck drivers to fast-track their careers by considering their previous driving experience and providing financial support to smaller fleet companies to offset the high insurance costs, offer comparative wages and cover training and hiring costs.
In closing, inflation and labour shortages are impacting all sizes of businesses but especially SMEs. Supply chain disruption is adding to inflation, but it's also a result of labour shortages. We strongly believe that addressing labour shortages through prudent, long-term strategies such as the municipal nominee program. Attraction and, more importantly, retention of temporary foreign workers, international students, drivers and technicians and the development of sector-specific training and micro-credentials will result in much-needed support for the various sectors.
Thank you for the opportunity.