London Inc. Weekly November 3, 2023

Hospitals unveil world-first installation of state-of-the-art automated laboratory technology

Diagnosing infectious diseases in London is about to get a whole lot faster. London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) and St. Joseph’s Heath Care London (St. Joseph’s) are celebrating the installation of a $3.3-million BD Kiestra Total Laboratory Automation (TLA) System, a state-of-the-art automated laboratory that automates some of the grunt work associated with medical lab staff. “The automated system will allow us to accommodate increased volumes in diagnostic testing and innovations within the system will help optimize productivity of staff, test accuracy and the time required to report a test result,” said Dr. Jeff Fuller, division head, clinical microbiology at LHSC. “The TLA system’s innovative technology will facilitate the transformation of laboratory operations, allowing for future growth and sustainability.”

The upshot: The TLA system is the first of its kind to be installed in the world, making London an international flagship site for innovation in clinical microbiology. And by doing so, the system also may have some microbiology lab staff questioning their job security, though both the hospital and the system’s maker are pushing the “building capacity” angle. “Microbiology used to take about three days, highly labour intensive,” BD executive vice president, Dave Hickey, told CTV News London. “Now with automation and solutions like the BD Kiestra you can do it in about a day to a day-and-a-half. What that means for the lab staff is that they can now spend their time on doing more value-add activities.”

Read more: LHSC | CTV News London

Implausible housing targets bring failing grade for London, finger-pointing begins

City politicians (including Mayor Morgan) expressed frustration with Queen’s Park this week after London was given a failing grade by the province for its progress on meeting housing targets. London is indeed missing its homebuilding targets ― there have been only 1,260 housing starts in 2023, well short of the target of 3,447 starts outlined by the province and their Building Faster Fund, a $1.2-billion pot of money intended to incentivize approvals. Missing the target means London won’t be able to tap into that money just yet. What irked Morgan and members of council, however, is that London has mostly done its part in terms of approvals ― it approved 4,097 units in 2022 and 3,061 so far in 2023 ― but said it can’t compel developers to put shovels in the ground. “We approve units, we don’t actually pull the building permits,” Morgan said. “There are some fairly serious concerns that we are being judged on something that we have no control over.”

The upshot: London Development Institute director Mike Wallace appeared before city politicians, telling councillors that high financing costs and a sharp decline in housing market activity mean that builders are holding off on new projects, and that actual housing starts are (surprise, surprise) largely market-driven. Some work has been done to meet developers’ requests for the city to streamline the application process, and hearing LDI say that neither the city nor the development sector can really do much to speed up actual housing starts until the market improves will likely be frustrating news to some folks toiling away on the housing file. But London is hardly alone here ― 90 per cent of Ontario’s large municipalities also missed their targets. With high interest rates expected to persist at least into next year, the provincially-outlined goal of building 47,000 homes in London (and 1.5 million in Ontario) by 2031 looks increasingly fantastical, only a couple years into the effort. 

Read more: London Free Press | CTV News London

London Chamber calls for beer tax reform

The London Chamber of Commerce joined Ontario Craft Brewers (OCB), as well as the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, to call on Ontario finance minister Peter Bethlenfalvy to make reforms to the beer tax ahead of a planned hike. The federal beer excise duty is set to increase by 4.7 per cent in April – adding around 20 cents to the price of a two-four; OCB is hoping to have that increase capped at two per cent again, something the government did for this year’s increase. “The craft beer industry finds itself hampered by the existing provincial beer tax system, which, although can be helpful to new breweries entering the market, also has the effect of stifling growth,” reads a statement prepared by Kristen Duever of the London Chamber of Commerce. They would like to see the flat tax replaced by a progressive tax that they say will help smaller breweries become more sustainable. “With these smart changes in the beer tax system, Ontario’s 300-plus craft breweries can keep on doing what they do best – growing and bringing in tons of economic activity, tax revenue and of course producing more of our favourite brews.”

The upshot: The annual, inflation-pegged beer tax increase has become something of an annual fight ― brewers large and small have complained about the structure of the tax for years. This past summer, the OCB launched the Keep Craft Beer Local campaign, hoping to build public pressure on the government to reform the tax structure. So far, making changes to this tax does not seem to have cracked the government’s priority list. The OCB points to research that estimates that meaningful reforms to the tax could mean that as much as $380 million in capital investment gets pumped back into the craft beer economy.

Read more: London Chamber of Commerce

City recommends nearly $2 million in funding for core-area BIAs to help businesses manage homelessness 

In other city news, business groups looking to support members affected by the homelessness crisis were approved for nearly $2 million in city grants on Tuesday. The bulk of the funding will go to the London Downtown Business Association ($1.2 million) and Old East Village BIA ($500,000), while the Argyle and Hamilton Road BIAs will split an additional $250,000. The latter two had been the subject of some debate, as they brought forth their request late in the process, and there was a small amount of dissent among a few councillors ― Susan Stevenson, for instance, said that she felt it “disrespects the process to come along and say, ‘We need to get money, too.’” The money would be available for direct improvements to businesses, such as repairs, enhanced lighting and cameras, façade work, and street cleaning. Council is expected to approve the funding next week.

The upshot: City staff described the grants as a sign of co-operation between downtown business groups. There’s a lot of political capital invested on both sides in the city’s homelessness response, and (as evidenced by last week’s news that Gnosh Dining + Cocktails has left downtown due to “a distinct lack of coordination from different organizations, and no cohesive plan for downtown as a whole”) there’s also a growing chorus of downtown businesses fed up with the operating environment in the core and a perceived lack of leadership to change it. All parties are aware there is still a lot of work ahead ― so the level of co-operation between parties is seen as a good sign. But with many street-front businesses still struggling with pandemic recovery, the clock is ticking for a concerted effort to make meaningful improvements. 

Read more: London News Today | London Free Press