Watermain-gate: Yet Another Shocker

Eddie Francis will make an excellent father. As time goes on and we watch him in action on Monday nights, it appears that he would have made an excellent kindergarten teacher too. Look at how well he has trained the girls and boys on Council to do what they are told.

Is it me or have they not understood that the Mayor's political future and that of four Councillors is on the line in Watgermain-gate? It is no longer merely a question of water levy rates or 1,000 customers getting free water perhaps, or even whether levy funds were diverted.

No the issue is whether the people of Windsor have been told the truth by our elected officials!

We have had so many stories told to us that are irreconcilable that who knows where we stand any more. We need an investigation or audit or inquiry or call it what you will by an impartial third party who is allowed to get all the facts and to separate truth from fiction.

Can we get one? Frankly, No---not if the way this matter has been carried on is allowed to continue. What do I mean by that:

1. The Mayor has called privately and exchanged emails with the Ontario Auditor General, a person who may be investigating his actions and those of other Councillors while they were Chairs or member of WUC
2. The Mayor called for a "discussion" at Council on the WUC matter but the public was not able to talk since it never took place
3. The Mayor introduced a Motion and it was passed unanimously by Council without notice to the public by waiving the Procedural By-law rules so no one could appear as a delegation
4. Will anyone second Councillor Halberstadt's Motion so that the public will finally be allowed to speak and express their views
5. We do not know who is working with the Ministry to set out the terms of reference of their audit ie will it be broad or narrow
6. Is this exercise going to be just some number-crunching by a new set of eyes or the full investigation the public is demanding.

Then we learn another new shocker. The Mayor has known since last Friday that the Ministry was going to be involved. Notwithstanding that the Star story was erroneous on Saturday since the reporter could not have known that anything changed, the Mayor did not tell anyone anything for days. Why not? Was something going on in the background?

• "Francis refused to answer Wednesday why he kept the audit's approval under wraps for days."

Sorry that is not quite right. It seems according to the online story on the Star's website

• "Francis informed councillors of the audit on Saturday morning in a confidential e-mail he issued."

Funny, that line was deleted from the published Windsor Star! Why! If the Mayor could tell Council, why couldn't he tell the public? Oh, oh, I forgot.....we don't have open and transparent government in Windsor but decisions are made and information is disclosed in camera!

I cannot figure out what is going on. I cannot figure out why such a simple exercise in fact-gathering is taking on such monumental proportions and is becoming so complicated.

What it tells me is that we need an amendment to the Municipal Act. With longer terms for Council and no way realistically to control our local elected officials, citizens should demand that the next Government promise us the right of recall! I sure wish we had it now

Step One For E C Row Truck Traffic

This item will be on the Agenda for Council on Monday. It will probably go on the Consent Agenda since who wants to scare the public about problems with bridges on E C Row.

As I have told you several times already, Cansult, who was retained by the Feds to shoot down the first Schwartz Report, already identified issues with E C Row overpasses and suggested how to improve E C Row.

The Report says that there is a "severe need to proceed withthe rehabilitation of these structures." Doesn't that sound troubling to you?

We all know that Eddie is positioning himself as our figher for keeping trucks off of E C Row. However, when the damaging news is disclosed and the costs required to fix it are given, who in Windsor will oppose the "uploading" of the road back to the Province as part of the border solution.

Our fears will be assuaged. Assuming that trucks and cars will be kept separate AND, of course, that DRTP is dead, E C Row will be transformed magically into our connector to the soon-to-be taxpayer paid "shovel ready" airport lands and the transportation hub. It all fits together so well.

With E C Row being made the redundant border road in case of emergency (the new DRIC road is still the main road to the border) do you want to know what I have just figured out. The Joint Management Committee got almost everything they wanted 5 years ago.

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

The Title of this BLOG has been attributed to Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli.

Effectively what this means is that there can be no lies. It also means that there can be no truth. Lies and truth are now flexible concepts depending on what someone chooses to use as the starting and finishing point. Those points are determined by what one wants to achieve.

Let's look at the renovations to the Windsor/Detroit Tunnel as an example. Councillor Gignac claimed the Tunnel came in at $18M, $2m under budget.

• "This is a great achievement."

It is if you forget:

• "The two-year upgrade and restoration of the University Avenue tunnel ventilation building wrapped up" on May 30, 2007 when it was supposed to be finished by October, 2006
• The "commission awarded a $12,370,720 tender to Windsor's Vollmer and Associates for upgrades to the tunnel's ventilation system [$2.5 million below previous estimates]" in April, 2004.
• The Star reported in June, 2005 that the "$13-million renovation project at the Windsor-Detroit tunnel is six months behind schedule and facing major cost overruns because of structural problems, says a report to the Windsor tunnel commission."

Now we are told in a huge Star advertising section that the bus terminal was opened on time and under budget. Well that is true depending on the start and finish dates. If one looks at the time the project was officially approved by Council, September, 2006 at a budget of $7.5M, this project has been a remarkable success.

If you accept that it was to have been built for Super Bowl at a cost of around $6M, it is a horrible failure.

If you accept that the cost of the land should be deducted from the cost, then it is considerably over-budget if you do the math, never mind taking into account the changes made.

If you accept that Greyhound has effectively been given a 50% equity stake in the building for paying the costs a tenant would normally pay, then who did this deal!

Here is a timeline on the bus terminal to show you what I mean. You choose the start date and the finish date. Pick the numbers you want to use and come up with whatever answer you want to prove whatever it is you want to prove.

• 12-13-2002 It's estimated the terminal, to be shared by Transit Windsor and Greyhound Canada, will cost $6 million...We need about 65,000 square feet
• 03-18-2003 The 8,000-square-foot, 12-bay building would cost about $4 million, with one-third of that total paid by the provincial government, leaving the city on the hook for $2.67 million, providing Transit Windsor and Greyhound Canada continue their partnership.
• 02-24-2004 The proposed 64,000-square-foot terminal is expected to cost between $4 million and $6 million with the province providing up to $2 million in matching funds.
• 10-16-2004 A empty lot which used to house the downtown Canadian Tire store is being recommended by a site selection committee as the location for a $6.125-million transit terminal which will be shared by Transit Windsor and Greyhound Canada.
• 02-09-2005 The 11,800-square-foot building, which will be triple the size of the existing 63-year-old terminal, will be on the site of the former Canadian Tire store, adjacent to the Art Gallery of Windsor and the Radisson Hotel.
• 05-19-2005 Construction had been slated to begin in June with a projected opening date in January. But talks with Greyhound have proceeded more slowly than anticipated, Iatonna said. At issue is the size of the $6.2-million building.
  
  Iatonna said the city would like to bring the cost of the building in under $6 million but Greyhound wants to ensure the new terminal can accommodate everything it requires to serve customers, including ticket wickets and counter space, bus bays and offices.
  
  The proposed one-storey, 11,800-square-foot building, adjacent to the Art Gallery of Windsor, is also expected to include a waiting area, a parcel pickup centre, information kiosk, drivers' room and dispatch facilities.
• 06-13-2005 Originally scheduled to be completed in time for Super Bowl XL next February, the $6.125 million terminal on the site of the old Canadian Tire store is now expected to be completed next spring.
  
  Greyhound's financial contribution to the project is expected to be limited to annual lease payments which will offset some of the capital and operating costs.
• 10-14-2005 Negotiations with Greyhound Canada for a $6-million downtown bus terminal have hit a snag and placed a deal with the city in limbo.
  
  Negotiations were stalled when Greyhound balked at contributing $2 million to the project without having an equity share in the terminal.
• 03-31-2006 A $6-million deal for a new transit terminal that could open by spring next year has been reached between the City of Windsor and Greyhound Canada.
  
  Greyhound will be using four bus bays, but will not rent any space inside the 8,000-square-foot building, which is a scaled-down version of what was originally planned for the site...
  
  Greyhound Canada will be given 50 per cent ownership of the new transit terminal in 25 years. "We'll be 50-50 partners," Francis said...
  
  Francis said the deal is a good one for taxpayers because the cost of operating the building is essentially covered by the $160,000 annual payments Greyhound will make.
  
  "Instead of them giving up-front cash, this is what they're giving, which still allows us to pay off the operating" expenses, Francis said.
• 05-13-2006 'Funky' transit depot...The 9,000-square-foot terminal -- pegged at about $6 million -- will have a domed roof with a skylight, glass and brick facade and indoor palm trees...
  
  We're still in the working phase," she said. "The site is quite congested. We're trying to maximize use of the site..."
  
  Isabelle-Tunks said the terminal will have a large indoor concourse and the ability to accommodate 12 Transit Windsor and four Greyhound buses.
• 09-19-2006 A new Transit Windsor bus terminal that will cost $1.5 million more than anticipated was approved Monday by city council.
  
  The building that will sit at Chatham Street West and Church Street, came in at a price of $7.5 million, well above the $6 million that was originally budgeted...
  
  The building plans grew from 8,000 square feet to about 9,200 square feet.
• 05-26-2007 Stewart said he's looking forward to the grand opening of the bright new $7.2-million bus terminal
• 06-23-2007 The $7.2 million City Centre Transit Terminal received rave reviews Friday when it was opened for the first time to Transit Windsor staff and municipal officials.
• Advertisement August 17, 2007 Transit Terminal opens on time, under budget
  For Isabelle- Tunks, the project has been a success because “it was completed on-time and under budget, and it meets the needs of the users.” Despite three labour strikes, there was a negligible impact on the schedule.
  
  The final cost is about $7.4 million –- $100,000 under budget. “We did this by reviewing finishes and design features, selecting the most cost-effective [ones],” says IsabelleTunks.
  
  Construction, carried out by Gulf Construction, began in October 2006 and was completed in mid June bringing the project within the tight 10-month timeline.

So you see how it works. It is NOT a lie; it is just damned statistics! Can you imagine the praise when the East end arena comes in on-time and under budget too!

Who Will Second The Halberstadt Motion

Quite an Editorial in today's Star. If they had mentioned the name of one of Canada's best forensic auditors, Al Rosen, in it, you might have thought that I had a hand in it being written since that is what I have advocated!

It's put up or shut up time now for Councillor Halberstadt. It seems that the Councillor feels he was "duped" by WUC:

• "it appears to be pretty obvious they (were) trying to downplay the extent of the increase."

Too bad no one from the Commission with any facts was around:

• "WUC chairman Ken Lewenza couldn't be reached for comment. WUC's acting general manager Max Zalev was unavailable Tuesday and his staff referred questions to WUC spokeswoman Sylvia deVries, who was on leave in the spring when the utility created the inserts."

Strange that the Mayor who was contacted by the Star did not return the page since he did all the talking before and he was not even the WUC Chair, Junior was. Then again, I can understand why not:

• "Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis has handled this issue poorly from the start, offering contradictory statements that have done little to instill public faith."

Those people at WUC should have been the big Buskers sponsor after all. According to the Star today they work acts of magic. They turn 86 per cent increases into 36 per cent ones and $600 million in 30 years to replace watermains from $660 million over 100 years. Feats of pure wonder and amazement.

Back to the Councillor. He should receive the credit for not knuckling under. He left his Motion on the table so Windsorites have the chance to express their opinion as delegations about what should be done with an investigation at Council next Monday. BUT....who will second it. I know that five Councillors have been contacted to do so and not one has said he/she would.

Are they personally afraid to do so? Are they afraid of the consequences to their political career? They must know that seconding a Motion does not necessarily mean a person is in favour of it. Someone CAN second a Motion in order to have the debate.

Are they afraid to antagonize the Mayor or their colleagues? You know, not be part of the team. If so, they do not deserve to remain on Council. They would not performing their duty as a Councillor!

Without a seconder, the Motion dies under the Procedural By-law and no one gets heard. If the Star is right that there was "what seemed an attempt -- a well-orchestrated one -- to upstage Halberstadt, Francis introduced a motion, passed unanimously without public notice or input" then do not expect anyone to second Alan's Motion. After all, we all know that the Mayor cannot handle any kind of criticism against his infallibility and cannot tolerate being blamed for anything.

It is up to Alan, not only as a Councillor but as a member of the City's Audit Committee, to take charge and to get a seconder from amongst Councillors Dilkens, Postma, Valentinis, Gignac and Hatfield. I did not mention the Mayor or Councillors Lewenza, Jones, Marra and Brister. As far as I am concerned the latter were on WUC during the relevant time period and should have absolutely no involvement whatsoever in anything to do with an investigation.

In fact, one should question how the Mayor could introduce his Motion in the first place and how the four could vote on it! Where were the City Clerk and City Solicitor when that happened at the last Council meeting!

If Councillor Halberstadt does not have the ability to get a seconder on a matter such as this, then he is powerless and any hope that he may have to be our next mayor or perhaps run for a Senior Level position would be dashed. Oh I know his fellow colleagues get mad at him but he should have the ability to line them up on something so important as this.

If there is no seconder....well, let us not even contemplate what could happen next! I cannot believe that the six remaining Councillors would act so irresponsibly.

If They Cannot Afford WUC Water...

...Let them drink champagne instead.

Mayor Eddie Francis thinks nothing of spending money like water on the Detroit Grand Prix: US$80,000 worth. I wonder what Windsor will get out of it. Remember the hype over the Super Bowl about how much money would flow into Windsor and the reality.

I listened to Eddie on his interview show on CKLW last Tuesday. What an embarrassment that show is. With the lobs he is fed, he would hit more home runs than Barry Bonds! He did a terrific job of trying to sell tickets to the Grand Prix on the show. Fortunately he had just enough time to mention the announcement of the University Engineering complex before he ran out of time. I guess I know what his priorities are.

Heck, who needs to have a "family destination" function for Windsorites and their families like the Buskers Festival for a paltry CDN$40,000 when you can THINK BIG and spend twice the amount in Detroit! Seriously, do you really think that Roger Penske would go to a buskers type of function.

I read the article about Roger in Windsor Life magazine. I wonder if Eddie will take over a copy to give to Roger, along with his CV. I note the quote in the article:

• "He [Roger] has an inate ability to place the right people in the right jobs."

Right about now with this WUC fiasco which seems to be getting worse every day, Eddie may want to keep his options open. I wonder in which job Roger would put him. Sports sales is a distinct possibility since Eddie did such a great job on CKLW. I would think a communications position might be doubtful however if Roger got a copy of today's Star Editorial.

Who knows, Roger might even want some of the taxpayer paid "shovel ready" land at the airport for his businesses one day too. Perhaps Eddie could sell him an acre or two at pre-construction prices while the race is on.

For our $80,000, Eddie gets to take his wife out for dinner. She needs to get away I am sure after that very long labour in childbirth. Eddie Francis and "First Lady" Michelle Prince, as she is described in a US press release, will be rubbing elbows at the Grand Prixmiere, the official kick-off party for the 2007 Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix with Governor Jennifer Granholm and First Gentleman Daniel Mulhern. Eddie is one of the honorary chairs you see.

Remember the last time Eddie met Mulhern at Super Bowl meetings. After that, the City of Windsor gave the Governor's hubby a contract to make the Councillors less dysfunctional. Taxpayers paid him "$3,000 to dispense leadership advice."

Geeez, I hope Eddie buys Dan's book instead for the Councillors this time around. It would be a lot cheaper! Perhaps Dan could autograph the book covers too if there is a volume purchase.

You know, the Grand Prix race and Windsor Council have a lot in common...they both keep going around in circles and get nowhere fast.

I wonder if Jen and Eddie will make small talk about border issues too as they enjoy the food at the reception. I wonder if she can persuade him to allow the road to the Ambassador Bridge to be built. You know, as one Canadian-born American politician, the Michigan Governor, talking to another Canadian politician, the Windsor Mayor. Perhaps she could also give him some tips on which country to go to for new jobs for Windsor. She has been doing some travelling I believe, 5 out-of-country trips by the time they meet.

The party is a nice one...it benefits the Belle Isle Conservancy and the Henry Ford Museum. I am sure that Eddie and Michelle would have chaired a gala over here too for local organizations except few Windsorites with our high unemployment rate can afford the ticket prices like those in Detroit of $250 or $500. And why get all dressed up to go out for a lesser function.

It's a good thing that the Transit Windsor bus service to the Grand Prix race is NOT running on the 30th, the day of the Gala. I am sure that Eddie would have booked a seat to show unity with his fellow race-fans. However, with the poor experience of the Tunnel bus and US Customs with the very long waits, Eddie could have been late for his own party!

I hope that our Mayor enjoys the outing. As the racers say...."Gentlemen, start your engines!"

BLOGEXTRA: SPP Declaration

Our Border crossing made the big time, 2 1/2 lines in the Joint Statement of Prime Minister Harper, President Bush and President Calderón at the North American Leaders’ Summit:

• "Canada and the US will maintain a high priority on the development of enhanced capacity of the border crossing infrastructure in the Detroit-Windsor region, the world's busiest land crossing."

I really wish I knew exactly what that meant since capacity is hardly the issue with reduced volumes of traffic. Notice the word "enhanced"....that ought to tell you something about what the leaders are thinking!

In a document I read on the Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America website I note that it dealt specifically with Windsor/Detroit when it stated:

• "The SPP benefits the American people in many ways, and much progress has already been made...
  
  To reduce the cost of trade, the United States and Canada decreased transit times at the Detroit/Windsor gateway, our largest border crossing point, by 50 percent. "

They could have easily said instead that capacity was increased by 50%! And remember, only the Bridge Co. does NOT need a US Presidential Permit to build its Enhancement Project.

It would seem that Ambassador Wilson has signalled well that he understands what now needs to be done and the US is onside. The DRIC road with a short right turn leads right to the Ambassador Bridge. Is the border mess finally over now that the Provincial Government has told Eddie he is irrelevant. Will we get finality right after the election!

We can only hope.

Windsor's Auto R&D Future

Inside moles are a valuable source of information when an issue arises. They have the background knowledge, or they know where to get it, to help put matters into a proper context.

They are everywhere... inside the Star, City Hall, Queen's Park, at the University. The fun for me is having several different insiders give me bits of seemingly unconnected information and then being able to bring it all together for you, dear reader, to understand.

You read it here first about the key role played by Ed Lumley in bringing this huge investment to Windsor. And who wrote first about an R&D Tech Centre, and not necessarily downtown. No, I am not trying to pat myself on the back but telling you not to accept at face-value what everyone seems to be saying. There is a lot going on behind-the-scenes.

I find it fascinating that along with Lumley's name, Gord Henderson also mentioned that of Dennis DesRosiers in his column. Was he trying to make up for the dust-up that he and Dennis had some time ago? The interesting comment was that Dennis and Eddie "huddled" and that they "departed on amiable terms." Will Eddie now retain DesRosiers as Hurst did to assist the City to develop a meaningful auto strategy and to take advantage of his auto industry contacts? Was Gord telling Eddie it was OK to do so!

I give you all of this as background. With all of the talk of economic development, the auto industry and our future, I heard about a report from our past. So I asked around for it and a mole found it for me. It makes great reading for our leaders in Government, Education and Economic Development.

This Report was prepared for the previous Mayor, Mike Hurst and then ignored it seems by Eddie. It seems that some are now trying to take credit for an idea that has been around for years. You know what, let them today pretend that what is going on is a fresh idea but let's get on with it!

Here are some interesting excerpts from the Report. This Report was insightful in predicting the demise of Windsor's manufacturing base and the potential growth of the region as the centre of intellectual capital in the automotive sector. It must be painful for Eddie to realize that his nemesis Mike Hurst was responsible for commissioning the Report and even more painful for him to know that Dennis DesRosiers wrote it:

• Automotive Sector Strategic Plan
  A Research Report Prepared by
  DesRosiers Automotive.Consultants.Inc
  
  General
  
  The Windsor-Essex County Development Commission’s business development strategy for the automotive sector will be supported by two foundations:
  
  1. Windsor is at the centre of the North American automotive industry
  2. Ontario is a competitive location.
  
  These foundations will support four “pillars” or targeted initiatives of a business development strategy:
  
  1. Developing Windsor as the “Intellectual Capital” of the Canadian and North American automotive sector.
  2. Targeting high value-added OE parts manufacturing and MTDM.
  3. Linking a human resource strategy to an economic development strategy.
  4. Examining the full length of the value chain.
  
  Windsor is at the Centre of the North American Automotive Industry
  
  Windsor is situated on the frontier between Ontario and Michigan, the two leading motor vehicle manufacturing jurisdictions. It is also in immediate proximity to the world headquarters of Ford and General Motors, the North American headquarters of DaimlerChrysler and dozens of Tier 1 parts manufacturers. Major concentrations of assembly plants in Indiana and Ohio are also within a few hours’ driving time. Highway 401 and Interstate Highway 75 provide a direct connection to North America’s core concentration of manufacturing plants. Jurisdictions where automotive manufacturing capacity lies within 500 km. of I-75 and Highway 401 accounted for almost three quarters of North American vehicle production in 1999...
  
  However, by 2010, we still expect Windsor-Essex County to be within 1,000 kilometres of 69.6 percent of vehicle assembly capacity, 67.9 percent of engine capacity, and 63.1 percent of transmission capacity.
  
  Equally important, Windsor is directly adjacent to Detroit, the nerve centre of the North American automotive manufacturing industry. This proximity to the industry’s senior decision makers means that Windsor is uniquely placed within Canada to attract automotive research, design, development and testing capabilities. The key automotive business development opportunity for Windsor-Essex County may be its potential to become the “intellectual capital” of the Canadian automotive sector. This is discussed in more detail later in this section.
  
  Ontario Offers an Attractive Investment Climate
  
  In 1999, Ontario produced almost 3 million vehicles, ranking only slightly behind Michigan among North American jurisdictions (Table 6.9). When compared with vehicle producing countries, Ontario ranks fifth globally, behind the United States, Japan, Germany and France.
  
  Support for Research & Development
  
  Tax incentives for research and development are channelled through the federal government’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Innovation Tax Credit. The after-tax cost of one dollar spent on R&D is $0.49, one of the lowest in the world...
  
  Proprietary product and process technologies have become a key source of competitive advantage in a rationalizing and globally competitive automotive manufacturing sector.
  
  Initially the dynamics of outsourcing and rationalization favoured the concentration of research, design, development and testing by OEMs and parts manufacturers in facilities in close proximity to vehicle company head offices in Detroit. Windsor, despite its location just across the Detroit River from those offices, historically was prevented from fully participating in this automotive technology cluster because of the Canada-U.S. border. In the past, border delays, the need for what the industry calls “face time” and the lack of a communication infrastructure were seen by OEM executives as an impediment to the ready sharing of information between the vehicle company head offices and their suppliers R&D facilities. Even Canadian-based suppliers such as Magna International and The Woodbridge Group were compelled to concentrate their R&D activities on the Michigan side of the border in order to be able to provide customers with the desired level of day to day interaction.
  
  Advances in information technology have made “face time” and the international boundary less of an issue by facilitating real-time interaction and sharing of technical information between head offices and R&D centres without onsite visits. Windsor’s geographic proximity to Detroit, however, is a significant draw to R&D activity, and it is thus emerging as the most favoured location for automotive technological research in Canada. DaimlerChrysler and Ford have established new R&D facilities in Windsor within the past couple of years.
  
  Several elements of infrastructure are in place to support the continued growth of Windsor as the “intellectual capital” of Canada’s automotive industry. The engineering school at the University of Windsor has been a growing source of engineers for automotive manufacturers and is increasingly focusing on automotive engineering, although they have not been able to meet the total engineering needs of the area’s automotive sector. St. Clair College is the principal outside source of skilled trades training for area automotive manufacturers. It recently announced the founding of a Centre for Manufacturing Excellence. Windsor is a North American centre of automotive MTDM, a sector that is becoming increasingly capital and technology-intensive and employing increasing numbers of engineers. The Ford and DaimlerChrysler R&D centres are providing nuclei for the emergent automotive technology cluster, and generous federal and provincial tax credits, in conjunction with Windsor’s other locational advatages discussed earlier, provide a powerful incentive.
  
  The missing pieces in the technological infrastructure are:
  
   An adequate supply of engineering graduates from Canadian universities
   Compensation for engineers that is competitive with that of the U.S. automotive industry. The low value of the Canadian dollar in recent years has exacerbated a “brain drain” of automotive engineering talent to the United States.
   A designated Automotive Engineering field of specialization at a Canadian university. The University of Windsor is working on further developing the automotive capabilities of its Applied Science faculty, and developing automotive streams in Business Administration and Law. An adequate emphasis on trade and technology at the high school level.
   There are likely further requirements to develop Windsor-Essex County Counties IT infrastructure, although this was not a focus of this study.
  
  Filling in these missing pieces will require a concentrated collabourative effort on the part of industry leaders, educators, organized labour, and elected and administrative officials of all three levels of government. Union leaders might, at first, be expected to be skeptical of an “intellectual capital” strategy that could be seen as focusing on creating white-collar/professional jobs, rather than unionized blue-collar positions. However, R&D and engineering facilities in fact employ large numbers of unionized skilled tradespeople and support a significant number of production jobs tied to these engineering centres.
  
  The “intellectual capital” strategy will also serve a fundamental community-building purpose. Sons and daughters of blue-collar workers who attend university and seek “upward mobility” will be presented with employment opportunities within Windsor-Essex County, rather than having to relocate elsewhere in North America.
  
  
  6.7.2 Focus on High Value Added OE Parts Manufacturing and MTDM
  
  The focus of Windsor-Essex County Development Commission’s automotive business development activities, therefore will need to be on high value-added OE parts manufacturing, particularly powertrain components.
  
  Advantages to be leveraged in attracting manufacturers of high value-added parts include:
  
   The presence of two Ford engine facilities and the GM transmission plant.
   Proximity to North America’s core concentration of assembly and engine manufacturing plants in southeastern Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and southwestern Ontario
   Windsor-Essex County’s critical mass in parts manufacturing and MTDM, resulting in a large pool of skilled and experience workers
   Access for parts suppliers to the area’s highly developed MTDM capabilities
   Windsor-Essex County’s developing technological infrastructure
  
  Windsor-Essex County has been particularly successful in attracting investments by German-based parts suppliers, but less successful in drawing in Japanese companies. Although they should not be ignored, in terms of attracting global investors, the Windsor-Essex County Development Commission might be advised to continue to focus on European players. Japanese-based assemblers and parts suppliers deal with relatively flexible company unions in the home market, and have historically displayed a strong preference for jurisdictions without a strong union presence in North America. European parts companies, by contrast, are accustomed to dealing with powerful unions such as IG Metall in Germany, and tend to be less daunted by the CAW presence in Windsor-Essex County. DaimlerChrysler’s strong presence in Windsor should also offer unique opportunities with European suppliers.
  
  The “union issue” could also be sidestepped by a focus on machine, tool die and mold, since the majority of Windsor-Essex County MTDM shops are non-union. This sector also produces very high-paying jobs with skilled trades employees frequently earning six-figure incomes with overtime and has established a strong track record of locally-generated growth.
  
  In many of the executive interviews, the shortage of engineers was described as critical and identified as the number one obstacle to expanding research, design, development and testing activities. In other words, it is the most formidable barrier to the “Intellectual Capital” pillar of Windsor-Essex County’s automotive business development strategy.
  
  Media reports indicate that a shortfall of engineers is a problem experienced by a number of manufacturing sectors across Canada. In the Windsor-Essex automotive manufacturing sector, the engineering squeeze is exacerbated by a “brain drain” to Michigan. Canadian engineers can easily obtain U.S. work permits under the “Treaty Canada” provisions of the Free Trade Agreement, and those employed by Windsor-Essex County automotive manufacturers often find the substantially higher after-tax incomes available just across the Detroit River difficult to resist. This is occurring just as downloading of design, development and testing responsibilities and the increasing technological sophistication of MTDM is creating unprecedented demand for engineering talent within the Windsor-Essex automotive manufacturing sector.
  
  The above types of problems are not unique to Windsor-Essex County or to the automotive manufacturing sector. Practically every jurisdiction in North America where the key economic sectors are facing fundamental technological and structural change are grappling with skill shortages and training issues.
  
  Those jurisdictions that are proactive and successful in addressing skill shortages and other critical human resource issues will create sustainable competitive advantages in attracting new investment...
  
  Windsor-Essex County stands out within the North American automotive manufacturing belt in its ethnic and cultural diversity. This fundamental community strength remains to be fully harnessed by the region’s automotive manufacturers.
  
  The key to building diversity and skills in the Windsor-Essex County automotive workforce lies in recognizing that human resource and business development strategies for a given jurisdiction cannot be developed in isolation. Building on human resource strengths and addressing shortages and weaknesses in skill sets is a critical pillar of any effective business development plan...
  
  Engineering services. Ford and DaimlerChrysler have recently made major commitments to automotive R&D in Windsor. North American vehicle manufacturers, however, also make extensive use of independent testing laboratories and engineering firms around Detroit and elsewhere in the United States. Windsor, with its proximity to Detroit, could be marketed as an attractive location to some of these players.

There's the outline of a strategy to make Windsor #1 in Canada and a major player in the world auto industry for R&D. We have the blueprints in the DesRosiers Report. If you look at what is going on now and what was announced yesterday, a lot of the building blocks are here and available. All we have to do is to have everyone working together to cement them in place. We have the foundation. Now we better build the rest of the Complex.

And leave the egos at the door!