Windsor took a big hit today. (NF)

[Castmaster]

I have been considering leaving WIndsor for a few years now and have heard about Barrie and Parry Sound's rapid growth. Today Chrysler anounced it will be eliminating 1300 jobs here in Windsor. Ford has already slated two plants to close here within the next year. An one of the biggest maufacturing shops for many years claimed bankrupcy and locked it's doors this morning. Tool shops are closing at almost the same rate as they opened 30+ years ago. I was hoping some people from these other areas could give me some feedback on the job situation up there. Would be looking for something in a manufacturing environment as I built plastic injection molds for 11 years. Or I have also been running my own small concrete buisness for 5 years now. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated because this is a huge move for me and my family, but one that has to be seriously considered right now. This city is in big trouble!

 

Thanks, Derek

Edited February 16, 2007 by Castmaster

[lunkerbasshunter]

yes bad news for sure! I don't know parry sound as well as I know Barrie. Parry sound is smaller and a cottage community mainly. you most likely have better luck trying to find work in barrie where there is 150 000 people and growing then in parry sound where the growth is there but not like to the south.

 

Cheers!

[pigeonfisher]

talk to Misfish...he may have some good ideas up the barrie way in regards to manufacturing.

 

Jobs are plentiful in a lot of areas, be ready to work hard and prove your worth. You will do fine.

[lunkerbasshunter]

ps. i hate to gear off topic from the terrible news in the windsor area but unions have played a big part in forcing manufacturers to shut down, not just in the auto industry but in any manufacturing industry.

 

hope our auto workers in windsor can find work or relocate to woodstock where there is a new toyota plant.

[Greencoachdog]

Talk to Holdfast, he'd prolly sponsor you to move to Sask!!!

[Castmaster]

I am from a smaller city and would like to move to a comparable sized place if not smaller. I personally hate the hustle and bustle of Toronto. Don't even like driving through it. I have no problem with hard work but want to live in a fairly laid back community if I'm gonna move my family to a new place. The wife feels the same way.

[bigfish1965]

Niagara is growing in leaps and bounds. You'd have a very good shot out here. Low housing costs and some nice areas, too.

Oh yeah...lots of fishing, too.

[Hooked]

You probably won't like Barrie, its pretty much a suburb of T.O. now, maybe the outskirts like Collingwood. You don't want to go to Innisfil, unless you have a mullet. Don't know about Parry Sound, but investigate the Elliot Lake area. I know the realestate is dirt cheap there, and the town/city is trying hard to attract people. We have a resident of Elliot Lake here on the board, Bob, I'm sure he can shed some light on the employment in that area. Good luck.

[Big Cliff]

When Sue and I started looking for our retirement home one of the things we looked at was a small community that had potential to grow. A lot of our investment portfolio is in realestate. We looked at Parry Sound and it is a beautiful community but we didn't feel that there would be any significant growth there for a long time. It is just too remote.

 

We looked at a lot of other places as well and finally settled on Lindsay for many reasons. Property values are still reasonable, new industries are frequently coming into the area, GO transit will soon be expanded to Pontypool (a short drive from here), the 407 ETR is soon going to be extended all the way to the 115/35, and Hwy. 35 is going to be expanded to 4 lanes. All these things are going to help the area grow but you can still have the small town atmosphere in a rural setting. (there are many other factors but I'll save that until I know if you are interested.)

 

If you think you might be interested in learning more about the area, let me know and I'll be happy to get some information together for you. Heck if you'd like to come up for a weekend and spend a bit of time looking around, we have a nice guest room you'd be welcome to use

[muskieb]

Woodstock is a beautiful area and with the new Toyota plant there will be many opportunities. Might be worth a shot but be ready to have to go through several interviews prior to being hired.

 

Another thought that maybe someone else can comment on for you would be the Alliston area. Honda has a relatively new plant there and they are planning for another expansion. Should be some more jobs available there. Alliston may be a decent option to consider because if for some reason things don't work out at least you are close to tones of other industries, although commuting would obviously become a reality. Might just end up a zombie like many of us!

[irishfield]

Castmaster...bring your boat and fish Georgian Bay.

 

Elcan Optical (A Raytheon Company) is currently looking for entry and advanced level CNC Machinists here in Midland. They make precision optical devices for many industries including defence and security. We prototyped a plastic (stronger than steel) night scope casing for them a few years back, for the US military and we still make some smaller parts for them. You'll probably be subject to security background check as part of the interview process. I've lost my upper management contacts inside, but do still know some people working there if you have questions.

 

You can apply on-line @ www.elcan.com If the whole job description doesn't show online let me know and I'll take the time to type it to you PM.

 

There is shift work and overtime required...but that will just give you the day light hours to fish G Bay !

[Castmaster]

Thanks everybody for your replies and offers. I'm still just starting to weigh my options so I'll keep all of these ones in mind and see where I can go from here. This was my first attempt. My second attempt is my Brother lives and works in Gravenhurst. He's checking into a few thing s for me up there as well. Thanks again everybody. Especially Big cliff and Irishfeild. You guys are great and your offers willl be considered. I reallly appreciate the help!

 

Derek.