Tag: Business

Celebration of 10 years in Business

John Draper

Adam Bureau is the Chair of the DBIA but also the owner of one of Cobourg’s successful businesses – Buy and Sell.  Today he celebrated 10 years of operation complete with presentations, speeches, food and entertainment. But as well as operating his own business he is working in tandem with three other businesses who share his premises in a prime location on King Street.  The three startups don’t need and can’t afford to rent a full store so they are located in his store.  Video Games City, WD Cyber Solutions and Classic Coins and Bank Notes get cheaper rent, they can back each other up when they need to leave their position unattended and they generate traffic for each other. … Read complete articleCelebration of 10 years in Business

Horizon Plastics sold

John Draper

Horizon Plastics International (HPI) is one of Cobourg’s major employers and they have been sold to Core Molding Technologies, Inc (Core) based out of Ohio for approximately US $63 million in cash.   HPI has 250 employees operating within two manufacturing facilities located in Cobourg, and Nuevo Leon, Mexico.  Of these, 210 are in Cobourg.  The announcement says that the new owner “plans to continue all HPI operations and does not expect any significant restructuring, shut-down or employee severance costs.” That means no layoffs. The announcement by Core says that they have “acquired substantially all of the assets” of HPI. Kevin L. Barnett, President and Chief Executive Officer of Core Molding Technologies said: “Continuing to expand our technology offerings and diversifying… Read complete articleHorizon Plastics sold

Labour Action at Tim Hortons on Division Street

John Draper

Union representatives from Kingston to Toronto were out in force tonight supporting workers at the Tim Hortons on Division Street.  The media was also well represented.   There were perhaps 150 people all told in the parking lot and spilling out onto the street.  The action started at around 4:30 but got into full swing around 5:00 p.m. when both NDP leader Andrea Horwath and a light rain arrived!  As well as Union reps, the organization known as “Fight for $15 & Fairness” was there as well as the Durham Labour Council and more (details below).  Passing cars honked in support.  A police car arrived but took no action – they were probably coming for a coffee.  There was no indication… Read complete articleLabour Action at Tim Hortons on Division Street

Minimum Wage Prompts Cost Cutting at Local Tim Hortons

John Draper

The Tim Hortons on Division Street has issued a letter to employees advising of a cutback in benefits that effectively reduces their wages.  The move is blamed on the change in the minimum wage – most employees were getting $13 an hour but will now get $14.  The franchise is owned by Ron Joyce Jr. and his wife Jeri-Lynn Horton-Joyce who are the son and daughter of the chain’s founders. The issue got into the National Press (see links below) and now Kathleen Wynn is blasting the owners calling them bullies and said: “if the owners want to challenge Ontario’s new minimum-wage policy, they should come directly to me and not take it out on workers”. Employees have said that… Read complete articleMinimum Wage Prompts Cost Cutting at Local Tim Hortons

Update on Cobourg’s Marijuana Facility

John Draper

FV Pharma Inc., the new owner of the Kraft property who plans to build the “the largest indoor cannabis cultivation facility in the world”, now has financial backing from Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp.  This is a group of “entrepreneurs with a passion for the cannabis industry — past, present and future”.  They provide financial support and share their collective industry experience. Wheaton has announced they have signed a letter of intent and although they will get “a 49.9% stream of all cannabis”, they did not announce how much money was involved. The agreement is subject to “FV Pharma receiving the necessary licenses”.  Also announced were some additional details. Details of Project Existing building is 620,000 square feet Upon completion of… Read complete articleUpdate on Cobourg’s Marijuana Facility

Venture 13 – Progress

John Draper

With an aggressive schedule, the contractor for the Venture 13 project (Dalren) has started work and the expected move in date is on track for April 2018.  One of the groups occupying space in the new Building will be Makers Northumberland and they got a boost today with a $30,000 loan for start-up costs and equipment outfitting for the MakerLab.  That’s a 40ft x 23ft space set up to allow prototyping, custom manufacturing, 3D printing etc. – it’s a microfactory for hardware startups. The money will be supplied by Northumberland CFDC which is funded by the Federal Government so both CFDC’s Wendy Curtis and MP Kim Rudd were at the announcement this morning.  Also at the announcement were Mayor Gil Brocanier,… Read complete articleVenture 13 – Progress

DBIA Upbeat at AGM

John Draper

The Board of Cobourg’s Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) reported to their members last night at their Annual General Meeting (AGM).  There were about a dozen members (downtown business owners) in the audience and although they had some concerns, it seemed that the DBIA is in better shape than a year ago.  The board was new at the start of 2017 (see link below to access list of members) and stable.  There were no resignations or criticism of board members. In fact, Council representative Deputy Mayor John Henderson said that the board was “Cobourg’s most improved committee” and that he had “never seen so much cooperation between the Town and the DBIA”.  Mayor Gil Brocanier, who was in the audience,… Read complete articleDBIA Upbeat at AGM

Preserving History Captured by Northumberland Today

John Draper

Wally Keeler has written a letter to Council asking that they demand that Torstar and Postmedia restore access to the stories of our community no longer available due to their recent closure of 33 newspapers – including Northumberland Today (which has a history going back to 1831).  It will be on the Agenda at Monday’s council meeting. The Library or the Archives or even the Newspaper’s new owner will surely have hard copies for future historians to peruse but Wally’s focus is on the web site and the lost links from Facebook pages and the lost articles posted by local organizations.  Wally is quite eloquent in his plea for support from the Town. He writes: Ever since news went digital… Read complete articlePreserving History Captured by Northumberland Today