OBIAA and Province of Ontario Meet

To Discuss Importance of Main Street BIAs: BIAs, through a variety of initiatives and projects undertaken by the Ontario Business Improvements Area Association (OBIAA), and in many ways through the growth of provincial partnerships, Main Street Ontario is stronger.

Craig Stevens, OBIAA President commented: “In this past year, through OBIAA’s last Planning, Environment, Resources and Land (PERL) Submission, our Return on Investment Project and through the provincially announced Main Street Strategy recognizing the importance of small business, OBIAA is truly becoming a catalyst for positive community and economic change, enabling growth in Ontario BIAs.  These accomplishments reinforce the value of this annual dialogue in furthering our relationship, identifying issues and working collaboratively in understanding barriers and to make progress.

The priorities and solutions that OBIAA presented during the June 15th PERL meeting, with the Assistant Deputy Ministers, continue to strengthen Main Street Ontario and the businesses that make up their memberships.  The priorities discussed were:

MUNICIPAL-BIA PARTNERSHIPS:  Municipal Act sections, which pertain to BIAs, need updates and revisions.  Partner with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MMA) to further develop BIA Municipal relationship building tools, case studies and Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs).

ASSESSMENT:  Review of the MPAC system and policies that require updating to align with local planning, economic development and heritage goals.  Create a Main Street Task Force with the MMA to define Small Business that is realistic in BIAs.

SAFE AND INCLUSIVE:  Development of a tool kit for BIAs when working with social issues affecting the quality of life in BIA communities (i.e. addictions, cannabis legalization, mental health, supervised injection sites, street homelessness).

We also reviewed several upcoming PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:

  • Return on Investment on BIAs – Advancing Resilient Communities (ARC)
  • Main Street Strategy
    • Digital Main Street
    • Energy Efficient Awareness Initiative

OBIAA continues to work for our BIAs by presenting annually to PERL.  Our presentation aims to highlight and create solutions as identified by our BIA members and their municipalities… Strengthening Ontario’s BIAs.

About Ontario Business Improvements Area Association (OBIAA): OBIAA strives to be a catalyst for positive community and economic change, enabling growth in Ontario BIAs. Formed in 2001, OBIAA has focused on building the capacity of our BIAs through advocacy, networking and education.

OBIAA’s 2017 (reporting) membership boasts a combined BIA levy exceeding $59M, with almost 100% being invested back into keeping Ontario’s communities vital. There are almost 74,000 businesses and property owners that are represented within Ontario’s more than 300 BIAs. In 2017, 232 BIAs were members of OBIAA, approximately 75% of all BIAs in the province. Our reporting BIAs indicate their areas represent 640,000 employees across the province.

OBIAA holds an annual Conference, which will be held March 31 to April 3, 2019 in the Westin Ottawa.

About Planning, Environment, Resource and Land Secretariat (PERL): Representing 12 member-ministries, with mandates in Planning, Environment, Resource and Land use (PERL), PERL is a policy cluster with committees at the Deputy Minister (PERL-Deputies Committee), Assistant Deputy Minister (PERL ADMs Committee), and Director (PERL Directors Committee) levels. The committees serve as forums for horizontal policy development and cluster capacity building. They also allow executives to engage in strategic discussions that enhance linkages between member ministries to ensure policy and program coherence across broad streams of work.

The PERL Secretariat provides administrative leadership and executive support to the PERL cluster, while also leading and facilitating multi-ministry research projects to tackle substantive, complex challenges.

Note: Please refer to attached 2018 PERL Priorities Executive Summary for more details

For more information, please contact:
Kay Matthews, Executive Director
OBIAA
[email protected]
M: 647-521-5341

The Report & Media Release:

This is a PDF download   Media Release – PERL 2018

This is a PDF download   Priorities Report – PERL 2018

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