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Four-Pillar plan for Durham post-covid recovery

Regional Chair and CEO John Henry outlined a 4-pillar plan for guiding the growth of Durham following the pandemic.

Speaking during a virtual luncheon with the Scugog Chamber of Commerce, he pointed out that June 24, marked three months since the state of emergency in Durham Region. It was first time the region has ever declared a state of emergency.

“Like all of you, our regional team had to quickly modernize the way we do business. More than 1,300 staff quickly shifted to teleworking, and we kept projects moving forward. We were, and are, committed to keeping Durham’s economic engine running,” he said.

Henry said early in the pandemic, Durham quickly formed The Durham Economic Task Force–a collaborative response team made up of Durham Region’s Economic Development and Tourism team; Business Advisory Centre Durham; all of Durham’s boards of trade; local municipal economic development teams; our BIAs and our chambers of commerce.

He said the Durham Regional Council has approved two very important reports.

The first was the new Durham Region Strategic Plan implementation, which lays out priorities and sets achievable goals for the short and longer term.

This plan reflects the desire to capitalize on Durham’s legacy as builders going forward. “Our new economy will be one that features autonomous and electric vehicles, AI and personalized medicine. It also underlines the region’s commitment to land-use planning–creating more greenspace and supporting our rural communities.”

Region’s Recovery Framework

The second report—the Region’s Recovery Framework, is centred on four pillars:

  1. Social
  2. Built
  3. Economic
  4. Municipal

The Social pillar is all about taking care of people and includes:

  • Health and safety of residents. Let’s beat Covid-19. We are all in this together.
  • Housing and taking care of our vulnerable residents.
  • Re-opening our child care centres this Monday.
  • Primary Care Outreach Program for Covid-19 testing.
  • Managing Covid-19 outbreaks.

Built Environment focuses on objectives around economic development and climate change adaptation:

  • Changing how we build and design facilities, housing and services.
  • Building back better: focussing on sustainability in everything we do.
  • Building back Durham Region Transit ridership, including in the north.
  • Innovative new Durham Forest Centre in neighbouring Uxbridge.
  • As people look to move out of downtown Toronto out to Durham where there is more space, we will continue to promote a quality of life that is second to none.

Economic Recovery spells out specific actions the region is taking to ensure local economy not only recovers, but comes out of this stronger than ever:

  • Durham Economic Task Force is led by the region’s Economic Development and Tourism Team
  • Support local businesses in resuming operations.
  • Improving vital business infrastructure, such as broadband internet.
  • Looking at opportunities for continued investment – such as the Collision Conference taking place this week.
  • Buy local campaign.
  • Downtowns of Durham campaign.

The final pillar of our Recovery Framework is Municipal. “We too have taken a major financial and operational hit and we will be working hard to get our own house back in order,” said Chair Henry.

  • Fiscal impact of approximately $40.5 million–advocating for relief from the provincial and federal governments.
  • Transit fares to resume July 2.
  • Regional staff demonstrated amazing work, resiliency and adapted to change.
  • Apply lessons learned from the pandemic to modernize services.
  • Creation of a new 311-type service for Durham to modernize how we do business.
  • A staged plan for getting our buildings re-opened.

“Durham Region has a reputation as an innovative community; known for its ability to adapt and solve big problems. We will continue to showcase these strengths, long after this situation is over, while we continue to grow to be the greatest region in Canada,” said Henry.

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