London Inc. Weekly

Weekly Regional Business Intelligence

Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc.

Aeolian Hall visionary Clark Bryan announces retirement

Clark Bryan, the longtime arts and cultural booster and visionary behind the multi-genre live music performance gem Aeolian Hall, announced his retirement earlier this week. “I’ve decided to retire,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “I’m proud to have created a performance space and programs that have not only served the London community but have become known across Canada.” Since purchasing the historic Aeolian in 2004, Bryan, who is also a concert pianist, has transformed it into a nationally renowned music venue and founded the Aeolian Musical Arts Association, a registered charity, as well as multiple spinoff charitable organizations over the years. Darren McCaffery will take over as the executive director while the Aeolian board begins to recruit Bryan’s replacement.

The upshot: What’s next for Bryan? He said in his LinkedIn announcement that he would be “pursuing other personal and professional interests such as focusing on my professional career as a concert pianist and educator,” and that he would “continue to be a voice in our community for social justice and equity.” His contribution to London’s music scene ― especially now, when it is harder than ever for independent venues to stay afloat ― is hard to measure. The Aeolian has been named the city’s best live venue at the Jack Richardson Music Awards on two occasions, been named a top 10 Canadian concert hall by CBC Radio and boasts some of the best acoustics you’ll find in any small concert venue. “The Aeolian board wishes Clark the very best in his future endeavours and we look forward to honouring his vision and many contributions to The Aeolian and to London at an event in April,” the board said in a statement.

Read more: LinkedIn | London Free Press

New industrial subdivision pitched for south end

City council will consider a proposal to build a new industrial subdivision on a 108-acre plot of land at 1361 Wilton Grove Road. While the site plan proposal has not hit city hall yet, the landowner brought a request to the planning committee on Tuesday, asking for permission to demolish nine structures on the site. According to city staff, “the proposed future development includes the removal of all buildings on the lands to accommodate a new industrial subdivision,” which is “to be divided into 16 industrial blocks and one open space block.” City councillors look to be supportive of the plan. “The south end of the city is the perfect place for this. Volkswagen will be located just south of there,” said Ward 8 Councillor Steve Lehman, chair of the planning committee. “We know London could land a spinoff industry, we should be aggressive in courting that business.” It’s also got the support of Ward 14 Councillor Steve Hillier, who said he “wants to see a lot more intensification” along the Highway 401 corridor. We’ll have to wait and see exactly what the landowner has in mind, but it looks so far like city staff are intent on giving the green light to the new industrial development.

The upshot: The applicant won’t get everything they were looking for though ― city staff concluded that eight of the nine buildings were fine to demolish, but extended heritage designation to one of the buildings ― a home built in 1911 ― on the site. “It has not been demonstrated that Building 1 [the building afforded protection] cannot be incorporated into a potential future industrial development on the property,” said city staff. “The adaptive re-use of historic farmhouses within an industrial context has been successfully demonstrated in other municipalities across Ontario.”

Read more: City of London | London Free Press

Seven area poultry farms quarantined amid bird flu scare

Seven poultry farms in the London region have been ordered to quarantine due to an outbreak of avian flu. The number of poultry plants under quarantine include four in Oxford County, two in Strathroy and one in North Middlesex; though the specific plants aren’t being named, the geography would seem to suggest that the McCain poultry plant is not included in the quarantine order. The first of these farms, in Strathroy, was quarantined on December 14, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. It’s not the first time an avian flu outbreak has led to farm quarantines ― six farms in western Oxford County were quarantined in 2022, and outbreaks have periodically occurred since 2021, when avian flu was first detected in Canada.

The upshot: The quarantine orders come at a time of heightened anxiety around bird flu outbreaks. Part of it is likely a bit of post-pandemic anxiety, but experts are concerned about a few human cases ― including one in a B.C. teenager ― that have popped up over the last few months. And in an industrial sense, bird flu outbreaks can be a substantial operational headache ― it’s probably too soon to know exactly what kind of impact we’ll see, but it wouldn’t be surprising if this led to an increase in poultry and egg prices in the near term. Experts also say that it’s likely to be a problem poultry producers will have to deal with over the medium to long term. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we have more cases coming up in the next while,” Shayan Sharif, a University of Guelph researcher, told The London Free Press. “I think probably we’re going to see more in the not-too-distant future, but we’re in very good hands.”

Read more: London Free Press | Toronto Star

From the magazine: Beats to seats

Most people know Dave Galloway as the owner of city’s most popular deejay company. So, what’s he doing in the porta-potty business?

Read more: London Inc.

Strike averted at Ontario colleges

Faculty at Ontario’s 24 community colleges (including Fanshawe College) will not be walking off the job this week, after their union and the College Employer Council agreed at the 11th hour to go to mediation-arbitration. “We are pleased to have averted an unnecessary strike at Ontario’s 24 public colleges,” said CEO of the College Employer Council, Graham Lloyd. “Our goal throughout negotiations has been to recognize the hard work of academic employees and to keep students in class.” The union said there had been some progress in negotiations, particularly “significant benefit gains,” but that on other issues the two sides were at an impasse. According to OPSEU, some issues will be settled through mediation, while others will go right to binding arbitration under arbitrator William Kaplan. Students on Wednesday expressed relief. “I was pretty worried about schooling,” Fanshawe business student Maraam Ghenniwa told CTV News London. “Everything was going to be on hold, and I didn’t want to delay anything for schooling or graduation purposes.”

The upshot: It’s not the first time that William Kaplan has arbitrated between the two sides ― Kaplan served as the sole arbitrator during the 2017 strike, an arbitration process where both sides came away relatively pleased (he also served as the arbitrator for Ontario teachers recently and was tasked with heading up the industrial inquiry into Canada Post.) So, he’s a busy guy. Union negotiators say that even though the two sides are heading to binding arbitration to sort out specific contract issues, some of the larger structural problems ― namely, the fallout from the international student cap and the increased reliance on international students in the first place ― remain mostly unsolved. “The province helped manufacture this crisis,” Sean Lougheed, a member of the union’s bargaining team, told CBC. “They’ve starved this sector for years, leaving students and faculty twisting in the wind.”