Hamilton, Ontario Turnaround

Despite signs of decay, Hamilton may be on the verge of a turnaround, with new jobs and cheap real estate luring more and more Torontonians to "Steeltown".

After steadily losing its share of the provincial population to the booming Toronto region, Hamilton is growing again. Planners expect its half-million population to approach 600,000 by 2021 as a steady drip of new jobs compensates for the losses at the steel mills -- and as the city's attractive west-end neighbourhoods fill up with newcomers commuting to Mississauga, Brampton and Oakville. The westward drift of growth out of Toronto is an unstoppable tide, they insist; Hamilton's biggest problem will be finding enough space.

And once again, enter the manufacturing versus high tech jobs debate...

"Hamilton does not seem to realize that it's down and out," downtown businessman Brian Owen complained to The Hamilton Spectator. "We have a very serious problem here, but until the politicians and city bureaucrats get to the point where they realize it and admit it, they won't really be able to deal with it."

But that's not the way they see it. Hamilton has lost jobs since the 1980s, according to economic development officer Neil Everson. But now, he said, it is back on a solid growth path. "In Hamilton today, high-tech and health care employ more than steel," he said. The city's largest employer is the Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, with 9,200 employees in three hospitals.

Neil Everson is a long-time ED friend. Good luck Neil. I wish you well.

More here.