Create a Tax-Free Zone to encourage International Investment.

Allow international entrepreneurs to invest in Ottawa “tax free”.

This attracts investment to our area, and the lack of taxes recovered from the investor would be offset by the economic benefits that would be created by this system.

Other cities such as London and Atlanta have adopted this approach so we need to do the same thing, or risk losing investors to other cities.

Some of the things we also need to do to attract investors to our area is to maintain our transportation infrastructure. For example, we need to ensure that railway lines and railway bridges such as the Prince of Wales Railway Bride are both properly maintained and available for moving freight by rail.

As world oil prices being to rise in the immediate future we will find that manufactures will start moving back to North America.

Why?

Because for things such as producing steel, labour is a fixed cost of 1.5 hours to make a ton of steel. When oil reached $187 several years ago it added $90 a ton to produce that same steel. This means that those countries that currently rely on LOW labour costs for the production of a product will lose that advantage as the costs of transportation become the MAIN determining factor in selling products to North America.

Therefore, in the future, proximity to a market will be more important that labour costs. Those cities that have a diversified transportation infrastructure in their areas will be able to attract the investors and producers of products and goods to their areas. Shouldn't the Ottawa area be one of those areas that are able to take advantage of the shift in production from offshore back to North America?

So in order to attract investors to the greater Ottawa area we need a transportation infrastructure in place to support these returning and NEW industries.