Weekly Regional Business Intelligence
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Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc.
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Year of “extraordinary growth”: 2024 Annual Development Report
Readers of this newsletter will have clocked that London had a busy year in the housing development department, and on Thursday, the city’s 2024 Annual Development Report confirms it. “2024 was a year of extraordinary growth,” said Scott Mathers, the city’s deputy manager of housing. “London is building more homes than ever before while shifting towards sustainable growth patterns. We are seeing strong investment in apartment buildings and non-residential development, both of which contribute to our long-term vision of a vibrant and resilient city.” In 2024, he notes, London pegged an all-time high construction value of $2.2 billion, a substantial 82.2 per cent increase over 2023. Other highlights in the report include the approval of nearly 23,000 new housing units, 3,700 new building permits, a 130 per cent increase in industrial projects and a 123 per cent increase in new institutional developments (schools, healthcare facilities, long-term care homes, etc.).
The upshot: To take a realistic view of things, London has done just about as much as any municipality in Canada can possibly do within the constraints of jurisdiction and funding. Are there kinks to be ironed out? Of course: moving people around the city efficiently in the decade to come will be a priority, as will the demands this level of growth will put on municipal infrastructure; building permits still lag behind development approvals, particularly in medium- and lower-density housing; deeply affordable units remain hard to come by; and the splashy office-to-residential conversion program hasn’t lit up the scoresheet yet. Ultimately, it will be the long-term results on affordability and liveability that matter, but the city does feel that it’s doing a lot of the right things right now. “This year’s report shows that London is responding to housing needs with record approvals and a strong push toward increasing supply,” said Mayor Josh Morgan. “The work done this past year will be transformative for our city. These numbers reflect Council’s commitment to responsible growth, addressing housing needs, and strengthening our local economy.”
Read more: 2024 Annual Development Report
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Tesla nears opening of 50,000-square-foot dealership as Canadian sales plunge
The American EV company Tesla is nearing completion of its 50,000-square-foot sales, service and delivery centre on Wonderland Road South, according to The London Free Press, which reported earlier this week that the facility is in the final stages of its interior construction. Tesla isn’t committing to an opening date just yet, but with everything going with Tesla owner Elon Musk and a wave of Canadian consumers turning against American-made products, the timing isn’t great. “It’s impossible to gauge the effect this has had, but there are people distancing themselves from the brand because of it,” Darryn John, founder of Drive Tesla Canada, told the Free Press. The dealerships themselves can act as lightning rods for consumer anger ― last week, a Tesla dealership in Vancouver was vandalized, and American protestors have targeted dealerships across the U.S. So, while the stretch-run work wraps up on the London dealership, it may be more of a quiet launch than expected.
The upshot: Tesla is very much a political football at the moment ― multiple politicians have taken aim at the company, including both Jagmeet Singh and Chrystia Freeland proposing 100 per cent tariffs on Teslas. While those haven’t come to pass just yet, Tesla in Canada has bigger problems on its hands than the public persona of its owner: Tesla sales in Canada dropped by a whopping 70 per cent from December 2024 to January 2025, and you can’t blame that one solely on Elon. The drop in sales is being largely attributed to the pausing of the federal Zero-Emission Vehicles Program (iZEV) incentive, coupled with steep price hikes of as much as $9,000 on Tesla models. “Consumers in Canada are price sensitive and with these changes to the federal and provincial rebates, it’s negatively impacting what vehicles customers are looking to buy,” said James Hearn, associate director of Marketing Report.
Read more: London Free Press | Drive Tesla Canada
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Local RV market grapples with tariff threat, weak loonie
Another market trying to figure out what exactly to do with itself in the wake of tariff threats and consumer revolts? The RV market. CTV News London reported from last weekend’s London RV Show, where local dealers were looking to get consumers on their side, with “most dealers” saying they were planning to cancel all American-made orders if threatened tariffs proceed. “We canceled $3 million in orders,” said Andy Thomson, owner of Can-Am RV Centre on Colonel Talbot Road. “Lots of dealers were similar.” Don Ferguson, owner of RV World in St. Thomas, told CTV that “we’ve told our manufacturers if the tariffs come in, don’t ship us any products that the U.S. tariffs apply.”
The upshot: Even if the tariffs are paused, there are still headwinds for the RV market ― namely, a weak Canadian dollar that adds a significant amount to the cost of most RVs. The winners here could be Canadian RV-makers, although that’s such a small part of the market ― just five per cent ― that it would be hard (if not impossible) to keep up with demand. “We don’t have the manufacturing capability in Canada to supply the product, so it’s not like there’s an alternative,” said Eleanore Hamm, president of the RV Dealers Association of Canada. “The economic impact on both sides of the border by the tariff would be devastating. Hopefully in the long run, we can avoid the tariffs altogether.”
Read more: CTV News London | RV Business
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City looks to expand licensing rules for adult body-rub parlours
The City of London is looking at expanding its licensing rules for adult body-rub parlours. Right now, the city has a limit of five licensed body-rub parlours and requires the owners and operators of said parlours to be licensed. A report to the city’s community and protective services committee suggested expanding the licensing requirement to the parlour attendants as a way to improve health and safety of those working there, something that a number of other municipalities in Ontario have also passed. “Current regulations pertain to owners and managers of these businesses, but there is no provision for regulating the attendants,” a city staff report stated, noting that “there is value in licensing attendants to ensure up-to-date information is provided to the municipality for the municipal purpose of health, safety, and well-being of persons.” The city says it will begin working with partner agencies to look at potential changes to the way body-rub parlours are regulated.
The upshot: You didn’t think this would pass without controversy, did you? Some see the idea of regulating attendants as overreach. “The move to license attendants is really just about controlling women, rather than helping women to stay safer,” said Allison Preyde of Anova, a not-for-profit providing shelter, support, counselling and resources for survivors of gender-based violence. “We need to be following the rules that are already in place rather than piling on more rules, which are just going to negatively impact women who are wanting to be there and trying to do the work legally.” For its part, the city argues that regulations can serve as hard reduction, and a regulatory framework that includes the attendants can help guard against human trafficking and other safety concerns. “We’re probably one of the few large- and mid-size municipalities in Ontario that don’t have those regulations,” said London’s head of bylaw enforcement, Orest Katolyk.
View finalists here: CBC News London | CTV News London
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Guess what? We’re not getting high-speed rail again
The dream of London to Toronto in an hour by rail will have to wait once again. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a big splashy announcement this week about “Alto,” an electric high-speed rail project linking Toronto and Quebec City via Ottawa, Peterborough and Montreal. As you’ll notice, London ― indeed, the entire Windsor-Toronto corridor ― didn’t make the cut. Local Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos is still spinning this as a positive for the region, though. “Having a line of high-speed rail that connects Toronto…that would get folks from Toronto to Montreal in three hours or less – that’s really, really important,” he said. “This is the busiest line in the country, and so I’m not surprised that the government has decided to focus on this particular route.”
The upshot: Londoners will be forgiven if their attitude towards high-speed rail is, “I’ll believe it when I ride it.” From just about the beginning of time, rail projects of various kinds have always been just over the horizon. Of course, much to do with the new Alto announcement remains uncertain ― the planning alone is expected to take years and cost $4 billion, and who knows how robust the appetite will be in the face of federal elections, tariffs and everything else. Still, Fragiskatos pointed to investments in high-frequency rail in the region, suggesting that it will increase ridership, which would help build the case for high-speed rail to Windsor in the longer term. Generously, you might argue that once Canada (the only G7 nation that does not have some form of high-speed rail) gets a handle on the technology, that it would be likely to expand the network quickly ― but again, we wouldn’t suggest holding your breath on this one, as high-speed rail anywhere in Canada is still probably the better part of a decade or more away from becoming reality.
Read more: CTV News London
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Front Line awarded 2025 Medical Device Company of the Year
Fresh off being named one of the inventions of the year by Time magazine last year, London’s Front Line Medical Technologies was selected as the Medical Device/Technology Company of the Year at the 2025 Canadian Healthcare Industry Awards. Front Line’s flagship product, the COBRA-OS (pictured), is used to slow down excessive internal bleeding so severely-injured patients can be stabilized long enough for potentially lifesaving surgery, and shot to some prominence after the device was deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine. In November, after Front Line was featured by Time, the London Economic Development Corporation’s Kapil Lakhotia said Front Line was an example of the “healthy pipeline of up-and-coming life sciences companies” coming out of London’s “hospital innovation ecosystem.”
The upshot: A track record of success on the battlefield has led the company to gain a foothold in more traditional markets as well. Last month, the company launched the COBRA-OS in the UK. “The United Kingdom represents a crucial milestone in our mission to advance aortic occlusion technology and improve trauma care outcomes, said Dr. Asha Parekh, Front Line’s CEO. One of the company’s co-founders, Dr. Adam Power, has also suggested the device could play a significant role in reducing severe bleeding in maternity wards. “Helping mothers survive high-risk deliveries is a major focus of our company with the innovative COBRA-OS,” he wrote last year. “In female patients who are at higher risk of clotting due to pregnancy and who have smaller arteries, it is critical to use a low-profile aortic occlusion device to avoid the complications seen with larger devices.”
Read more: Canadian Healthcare Industry Awards | InnovateON
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Dispatch: February 21, 2025
A summary of recent business appointments and announcements, plus event listings for the upcoming week.
View listings here
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