When influencing public opinion seems to be the goal ...

 

Windsor Works: An Economic Development Strategy for the City's Future Growth?

At the Monday, February 8, 2021 Windsor City Council meeting, Council will consider recommendations contained in a report entitled Windsor Works: Economic Development Strategy for the City's Future Growth.  It was produced by Public First, a small policy and research company located in London, UK. The firm has a revolving door relationship with 10 Downing Street, the office of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and is the subject of a recent public controversy. It has no apparent municipal economic development expertise, or, for that matter, familiarity with Southwestern Ontario. Windsor Works was commissioned by Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens. It's unclear what due diligence was done before deciding to appoint Public First to create this report. It offers no major new insights, data or observations. The report largely echoes Windsor City's existing 20 Year Strategic Vision. Many of the source documents referenced in Windsor Works' bibliography were authored by the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation (WE EDC). The report advocates for the new County Road 42 hospital site, but fails to note that if the hospital is built there, Windsor's established neighbourhoods will lose 5,000+ jobs. Nor does it offer recommendations for replacing that many jobs. How much did Windsor taxpayers pay for this "research"? The only public disclosure was that it cost less than $400,000.

Why is Windsor throwing money at a study to discover what we already know?  Strangely, the study doesn't cite any interviews or consultations with ordinary local residents, especially the talented young college and university graduates Windsor claims it wishes to retain, or its engaged grassroots community advocacy groups. An especially egregious oversight is that no one spoke with the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (DWBIA), which represents almost 700 small and mid-sized local businesses. Was anyone, at any of the BIAs, actually interviewed? Mayor Dilkens wrote in a February 5, 2021 memo, "Detailed research, and hundreds of hours of local stakeholder consultations" took place with stakeholders that included a list of specific neighbourhood associations. Yet Windsor Works only indicated "site visits" to those same neighbourhoods. What new insights were gained? Is this study really meant to improve the city we live in, or is it just another Hail Mary to convince the provincial government that our municipal leadership knows what our residents want or need? It's a report that demonstrates more PR savvy than urban planning or economic development expertise. And it overlooks contemporary issues like community development, placemaking and climate change. Why commission a foreign company for this report? Public First, a small policy and research company located in London, UK, demonstrates, at best, a superficial understanding of our community. This is evident throughout the 314-page report that contains just 87 pages of actual narrative, including some sections repeated more than once.

But wait! Where did we see this before? Public First's website states that it helps: “organisations understand and influence public opinion through research and targeted communications campaigns"   This is uncannily similar to the description on the Ottawa-based Crestview Strategy website:   “We make, change, and mobilize public opinion”

The wording on both the Crestview Strategy and Public First websites promotes expertise in influencing public opinion. Is this merely coincidence? Is Windsor Works truly an independent, unbiased economic development study? Or is it a covert attempt to curate content in support of a pre-determined objective, ignoring the people who are vital to any successful local economic development strategy?  Surely Windsor constituents’ best interests are better served by engaging with residents and methodically building upon data to develop transparent evidence-based decisions!

We've written about Crestview Strategy many times since they launched their so-called "grassroots" lobbying campaign in 2020. They are the lobbyists to whom WEEDC awarded a $270,000+ contract to promote the mega-hospital plan.   Mayor Dilkens is a long-time Director on WE EDC’s Board, providing a leadership link directly to Windsor City Council. Council approves municipal funding for Windsor’s contribution to WE EDC’s core budget. Yet, Windsor City Council was not involved in the decision to fund WE EDC's Crestview campaign.

Windsor's lacklustre economic landscape In 2018, the Windsor CMA* per capita GDP was lower than in 2001. The graph below was taken from page 25 of Windsor Works. The report recommends revitalizing downtown Windsor to attract and retain highly talented workers.

* CMA = Census Metropolitan Area. It includes the City of Windsor and the Towns of Amherstburg, LaSalle, Lakeshore and Tecumseh

Recommendations incompatible with reality: How Windsor Works deals with the new hospital The report glosses over the new hospital location as a fait accompli in spite of CAMPP's ongoing legal appeal. And the provincial government has yet to give the project a go-ahead. There's no indication in the report that its authors visited the planned hospital location on County Road 42. This is unusual, given the importance of the hospital investment to our local economy. We're wondering if they even realized how distant it is from Windsor's central neighbourhoods. It's unclear how the healthcare needs of people living in the city’s central neighbourhoods are going to be met if a healthcare cluster is developed around the new hospital, as recommended in the report. There's no explanation of how these central neighbourhoods will be impacted by the relocation of 5,000+ healthcare jobs and all hospital services to County Road 42, or why a “global industrial park” will be developed on the airport lands adjacent to the hospital site -- an airport that may soon no longer have active air traffic controllers. Does this mean established healthcare services in the vicinity of the existing hospital campuses will disappear? If so, what will replace those 5,000+ jobs? Nowhere in the report is this addressed. Attracting and retaining talented post-secondary graduates There's plenty of contemporary research and data indicating educated young people prefer to live in walkable urban environments. But Windsor Works doesn't explain how a city that advocates for increased urban sprawl and auto dependence might be attractive to this essential demographic group. This is a critical omission that will have far-reaching consequences to the success of Windsor's economic development strategy, if it's executed as Public First recommends. Environmental considerations Bizarrely, there's no mention whatsoever of climate change or Windsor's efforts to meet the energy reduction targets in Windsor's 2017 Community Energy Plan:

Scoring Windsor Works If we were to grade Windsor Works, we might give Public First's report an F for delivering a report without groundbreaking new insights or recommendations, neglecting to involve local residents, and failing to reconcile the planned hospital location with the stated goal of revitalizing Downtown Windsor, especially in light of the high cost of this study. We'll be following the Council proceedings closely on Monday to see how critical Windsor's ten councillors are about this latest blueprint for our city's future. Stay tuned.

Read the 300+ page Windsor Works report

Read written submissions in the Council Agenda

Watch the livestream on Monday, February 8, at 11:00 a.m.

Click here to donate to our GoFundMe

In their own words: Members of our community comment on the issues this week

Mayor Drew Dilkens and his office go rogue in awarding the dubious Windsor Works report contract to unknown British firm. Will City Council get back control at the meeting next week? Will we see fireworks or yet another roll over? Taxpayers duped again.

There is nothing in the report that council and the good citizens don't already know. Also, I'm getting a chuckle out of the errors. May I suggest a good basic writer's reference guide? Fit to Print by Joanne Buckley is a good start.

... if the goal is economic regeneration, some cultural investment is absolutely necessary. But a minimum level of “niceness” ?.... its literally just the civic equivalent of “don’t be an asshole.”

The whole notion of attracting investment is never going to create the desired community unless the investment sought is directed. Countless research has been done over the decades as to what economic activities are required to cluster and what their ranges are, yet this data seems to be unknown.

If all the leisure activities require driving and leaving your car in acres of parking lot, it is not the desired outcome. Walk-able communities are disappearing.

I started skimming half way through because it was so poorly written. Amateurish even - so disheartening.

About Public First, the firm selected to produce Windsor Works

There is no indication Public First, a small London, UK, based policy and research company that was founded in 2016, has expertise in municipal strategy development or knowledge of Windsor’s (or Southwestern Ontario’s) landscape and community dynamics.

It is a controversial firm that specializes in developing Conservative education policy and has exceedingly close ties to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former Education Secretary Michael Gove.

• The project was led by Rachel Wolf, a founding partner. Ms. Wolf co-authored the Conservative Party’s Election Manifesto in 2019. She made headlines in 2010 after the charity the then 25-year old was running was awarded an untendered £500,000 grant by Mr. Gove’s Education Department. Ms. Wolf previously worked for Mr. Gove as an advisor.

 

• The project was supported by Blair Gibbs, a cannabis policy expert. Mr. Gibbs was an advisor to the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson until September 2020. Like Ms. Wolf, municipal strategy development expertise is not evident. Although currently located in Vancouver, he has spent almost his entire life in the UK.

 

• Three months before Mr. Gibbs’ five-day visit to Windsor in October 2020, Public First was awarded an untendered £840,000 contract by Mr. Johnson’s Cabinet. This was confirmed after a conflict of interest investigation by the British National Audit Office.

Were any established Canadian consultants with expertise in municipal strategy development and at least a working familiarity with Southwestern Ontario considered for Windsor's consulting project? And if so, what does Public First offer that a Canadian firm cannot provide?