Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

🇨🇦 Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada. The Peterborough Metropolitan Area (CMA) includes the surrounding Townships of Selwyn, Cavan Monaghan, Otonabee-South Monaghan, and Douro-Dummer. Peterborough is known as the gateway to the Kawarthas, "cottage country", a large recreational region of the province. The city is the seat of Peterborough County.

Peterborough's nickname in the distant past was "The Electric City" as it was the first town in Canada to use electric streetlights. It also underscores the historical and present-day importance of technology and manufacturing as an economic base of the city, which has operations from large multinational companies such as Siemens, Rolls-Royce Limited, and General Electric, and more local businesses such as Merit Precision Ltd., Dynacast and Bryston. Electricity was one of the reasons Quaker Oats moved to the city, and as part of PepsiCo remains a major fixture in the downtown area. Over the years the number of major manufacturing plants has declined, and General Electric closed its last remaining facility in 2018. As a result, employment has been shifting toward the service industries and tourism is now the leading industry in the area.

Economy Service industries are now the primary employers but manufacturing is still an important sector along with food processing, automotive supplies, electronics, aerospace and life sciences/biotechnology. Quaker Oats still employs 700 people in the city. The city is also a 'bedroom' community for workers commuting to Oshawa and East Toronto. Homes are more affordable than in many other areas, including Durham.

The Peterborough Regional Health Centre is the largest employer, with about 2,000 employees. School boards, local government, Trent University and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources are other large employers.

A New York Times report in January 2018 provided a detailed summary of the changes in the city's economy as there has been a shift toward employment in smaller manufacturing plants and in service industries. Plans for the city include a new $24-million Canadian Canoe Museum, a new casino, the new Peterborough Library, the VentureNorth building in the downtown area, the development of lands at Trent University, and other economic development activities. The region’s shift to service-producing industries will continue as in other regions in Ontario and a growing portion of service industries will become export-oriented".

The draft of the Peterborough's official plan indicates that the city will promote economic development and competitiveness by: a) providing for an appropriate mix of employment uses including

industrial, commercial and public service uses to meet long-term needs as identified in Schedule 3 of the Growth Plan; b) providing opportunities for a diversified economic base, including maintaining a range and choice of suitable sites for employment uses which support a wide range of economic activities and ancillary uses, and take into account the needs of existing and future businesses

c) planning for, protecting and preserving employment areas for current and future uses; d) ensuring the necessary infrastructure is provided to support current and forecasted employment needs; e) co-operating with existing and prospective businesses that further the economic goals and objectives of this plan; and,

f) providing a suite of incentives that facilitate business growth in the community.

Peterborough is a major shopping destination for the region and is home to three shopping centres: Peterborough Square, located at George and Simcoe Streets; Portage Place at 1154 Chemong Road; and Lansdowne Place at 645 Lansdowne Street West. Walmart, Costco, Sobey's and Real Canadian Superstore have large operations in Peterborough, drawing customers from the surrounding area.

Major employers include: Peterborough Regional Health Centre; Trent University; Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board; Central East Community Access Centre; Ministry of Natural Resources; City of Peterborough; Fleming College; AON Inc.; PepsiCo Foods (Quaker Oats); Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board

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