Markham is More than Just a Great Place to Live

Ontario premier, Kathleen Wynne, recently visited Novo Plastics in Markham. But she wasn’t just there for a photo-op walk around of the innovative company’s operations.  The Premier chose her visit to Novo to make a major announcement that will affect how all Ontario businesses start-up and operate.

Premier Wynne announced the launch of the Cut-the-Red-Tape Challenge. The initiative is the next step in the province’s ongoing program to reduce the bureaucracy and paperwork needed to start and run a business in the province. It calls on all Ontario residents and business owners to report unnecessary regulatory hurdles and duplication so the province can eliminate or reduce them.

Announcement Made in Markham

Where the Premier of the province chooses to announce a major initiative to improve business is no accident. Indeed, Kathleen Wynne could not have chosen a better city to launch the new program.

We write a lot about what a great place Markham is to buy a home. But, regardless of how attractive it is to live in a certain community, if you are forced into long commutes to do so, it will negatively affect your lifestyle.

But Premier Wynne didn’t choose Markham just because it’s a desirable community. She chose us because of the booming Markham economy and the unprecedented homegrown job growth the city has enjoyed over the past 20 years.

Whether you work in large corporations, you own your own small business, or you are in the skilled trades, you can easily live and work in Markham.

Markham’s growing and diverse population has benefited from the creation of 22,000 jobs in the city since 2008. In addition to providing extra jobs, those new businesses contribute to on overall increase of 65% in industrial/commercial assessments. In turn, that gives the City more economic clout to make Markham an even better place to live and work.

That incredible job growth comes from a wide range of business types. Markham is home to the Canadian headquarters of some of the largest companies in the country, including Hyundai, Motorola, Johnson & Johnson, Toshiba and Honeywell.

Markham is famous as the “High-Tech Capital of Canada”. The city has recently enjoyed significant job growth in a number of sectors, including financial services, life sciences, communications and IT.

But corporate headquarters and high-tech are only part of the story. If you’re an entrepreneur, Markham is a great place to launch your venture. Almost 97% of Markham’s businesses have fewer than 100 employees.

Markham’s residents enjoy many benefits from the city’s success. In 2015 alone, not only did the city co-host the Parapan/Pan Am Games, it was also announced as the site of the new York University campus, which is planned to open in 2020.

So, any way you look at it, Markham has it all. From record residential real estate valuations that are among the highest in the GTA, to unprecedented job growth, top-flight community services and educational institutions. Why would you want to live anywhere else?!