Labour Market Monitor - Human Resources and Skills Development ...

Labour Market Monitor
Ottawa
June 2012
The Labour Market Monitor is a monthly report providing a summary of labour market news and events for the Ottawa
Economic Region of Ontario. This region ranges from the Ottawa River to the St. Lawrence River. It includes the Ottawa
Census Metropolitan Area (Ontario part) and the following counties: the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and
Glengarry, Prescott and Russell, Leeds and Grenville, as well as Lanark. Cornwall, Brockville, Prescott, Hawkesbury and
Smiths Falls are within the region.
LABOUR MARKET NEWS BY INDUSTRY
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
Sevita International Corporation located in Inkerman, plans to hire nine people after receiving $1.7M from the
Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Agricultural Innovation Program. The company processes
and packages soybeans and is expanding to markets overseas in Asia and Europe. (Cornwall Standard
Freeholder, May 30)
Utilities
Hydro One Inc. will build a new operations centre near Navan, on Frank Kenny Road, and employ up to 30
people. The centre will begin operating in a temporary building before moving to a permanent location, and be
responsible for maintaining hydro service for the Orléans and Cumberland area. (Ottawa Citizen, June 16)
Construction
Construction has started on Community and Primary Health Care's new Health and Wellness Centre of
Excellence building, located on Parkedale Avenue in Brockville. R.W. Tomlinson Ltd. is performing the cleanup
and onsite preparation of the $9.5M building which is tentatively slated to open in the summer of 2013.
(Brockville Recorder and Times, May 26)
There were 1,595 housing unit construction starts in the Ottawa area in May 2012, compared to 266 units in
May 2011. The increase was due to several multi-unit projects starting in the Ottawa area. There were slightly
fewer starts of single-detached homes than there were last year. (Ottawa Citizen, June 8)

Labour Market Monitor - Ottawa, June 2012 Page 2
Manufacturing
Spartech Corporation will close their plastics sheeting plant in Cornwall by January 2013. The US-based
company employed 47 people. Most production will be moved to Spartech’s plant in Granby, Quebec.
(Cornwall Daily, May 24)
Retail trade
Target Canada confirmed opening a store at the County Fair Mall in Smiths Falls by the fall of 2013. It will
replace the current Zellers store with renovations beginning after Zellers closes in February 2013. About 150 to
200 full-time and part-time jobs will be created at the new store. (Smiths Falls EMC, May 30)
Information and cultural industries
The TELUS Communications Company will be hiring more than 80 people in 2012, and spend $210M over the
next three years to help support the improvement and expansion of its 4G network in the Ottawa-Gatineau
region. The new hires are in addition to the 600 people currently employed locally by the company. (Ottawa
Business Journal, June 1)
Finance and insurance
Ottawa-based Union of Canada Life Insurance closed and 23 people were laid off. The company was granted
court approval in May to begin liquidation and transfer life insurance policies to another insurer. (Ottawa
Business Journal, June 13)
Real estate and rental and leasing
The Ottawa Real Estate Board stated 1,896 homes were sold in May, a 14.3% increase over the number sold in
May 2011. Year-to-date, 6,549 homes changed hands, an increase of 7.7% over January to May 2011. (Ottawa
Citizen, June 6)
Professional, scientific and technical services
Energate Inc. received $2.9M from Ontario’s Smart Grid Fund to install smart energy management displays for
up to 1,000 Ontario homes. The Ottawa-based company will create up to 60 jobs for this pilot project to collect
information about power consumption that may be monitored remotely. (Ottawa Citizen, June 12)
Ottawa-based social media company Soshal Group will be hiring up to eight new staff after moving to a larger
office on Wellington Street. New employees are expected to be computer developers and people to expand
client services. (Ottawa Business Journal, June 4)
Embotics Corporation which makes cloud computing software, obtained $8.4M in equity financing from
VentureLink LP, Covington Fund II Inc. (Covington), and other private investors. The Ottawa-based company
plans to hire about 10 people in engineering and sales. (Ottawa Citizen, June 12)

Labour Market Monitor - Ottawa, June 2012 Page 3
GaN Systems Inc., a semiconductor company based in Ottawa, has secured venture capital funding to broaden
its research program. The company expects to almost double its current workforce of 11 employees by the end
of 2012. (Ottawa Business Journal, June 19)
Accommodation and food services
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. will be opening the Real Sports Bar & Grill in Ottawa’s Byward
Market by the fall of 2012. Approximately 150 part-time staff will be hired. (Ottawa Citizen, June 19)
Public administration
The Town of Perth will switch from operating a municipal police force to using Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
services by 2013. All officers currently employed by the town, including the chief and inspector, will be offered
positions with the OPP. (Lake 88.1 radio station, June 13)
Note: In preparing this document, the authors have taken care to provide clients with labour market
information that is timely and accurate at the time of publication. Since labour market conditions are dynamic,
some of the information presented here may have changed since this document was published. Users are
encouraged to also refer to other sources for additional information on the local economy and labour market.
Information contained in this document does not necessarily reflect official policies of Human Resources and
Skills Development Canada.
Prepared by: Labour Market Information (LMI) Division, Ottawa, Ontario
For further information, please contact the LMI team at: lmi-imt@workingincanada.gc.ca
For information on the Labour Force Survey, please visit the Statistics Canada Web site at:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/lfss05d-eng.htm