London to lose Rona unit on Blythwood Road as Lowe’s converts to Rona+ banner

Ahead of the rebranding of several Lowe’s to the new Rona+ brand, Rona has confirmed plans to close its west end location at 820 Blythwood Road, near the intersection of Wonderland and Sarnia roads. The company confirmed to CTV News that it plans to permanently close the store on November 16. A little ways away, the city’s two of Lowe’s stores ― one on Wonderland Road South and the other on Fanshawe near Hyde Park ― are gearing up to convert to the new Rona+ banner next month.

The upshot: Like Target before it, Lowe’s legacy in Canada will be that of another American retailer which came in making a lot of noise― a (USD) $2.4-billion acquisition of hundreds of Ronas in 2016 ― only to leave with its tail between its legs (in this case, selling the Rona fleet to New York-based Sycamore Capital for a mere (USD) $400 million last November). “The sale translates into Lowe’s paying a much higher ticket price to exit Canada than it did to make its major entry into the nation,” wrote Andy Arlo in HBS Dealer. All Canadian Lowe’s stores are being converted to the Rona brand, which is based in Boucherville, Quebec. According to Rona, the converted stores will still offer Lowe’s private label brands and honour warranties and gift cards issued by Lowe’s Canada.

Read more: CTV London | HBS Dealer

Long-term care home proposed for McCormick site

A large nursing home operator, Markham-based Extendicare, is asking city hall for permission to build a 192-bed long-term care home on a part of the former McCormick cookie and candy factory site at 1156 Dundas Street. Extendicare, which operates three other long-term care homes in the city, has asked city hall to sever about 1.5 hectares of the lot to build the care centre, which would replace its downtown facility on Waterloo Street. “This is intensification of the right kind. We need long-term care home spaces. This site has sat vacant for quite a while now,” planning chair Steve Lehman told The London Free Press. Lehman also compared the site to 100 Kellogg Lane, saying that he hopes that model of “reimagining old industrial space to fit the times,” could be replicated on the McCormick site. As for the proposal at hand, a public meeting is scheduled for September 11, which should give more insight into Extendicare’s plans.

The upshot: Most in the city have probably learned by now not to hold their breath when it comes to this specific site, which the city has been trying to get redeveloped for nearly a decade now. A “senior lifestyle village” had been proposed on the site back in 2015, and last year city council endorsed a plan to turn it into a more expansive residential hub. But getting traction on these projects has been tough slogging. There’s been neighborhood pushback, especially to the approved number of storeys, which has landed the housing part of the project at the Ontario Land Tribunal. Meanwhile, the site continues to decay, so here’s hoping there’s some real movement on it soon. 

Read more: London Free Press

With a nudge from Ottawa, council backs call to increase allowed home rental units from three to four

In response to some gentle, but not so subtle, nudging from the federal housing minister, London’s city council voted unanimously to increase the number of units for rent allowed in a home from three to four. The change will mean that someone looking to build or add new rental units to single detached, semi-detached, townhouses, duplexes and triplexes will be able to do so without going through a zoning amendment process, with the hope being that the new regulation will help to boost overall housing stock in the city. “Fifteen to zero. You saw council say we approve of moving in this direction,” said mayor Josh Morgan following Tuesday’s council meeting. The motion directs city staff to prepare a zoning bylaw amendment to increase the number of units in a home that can be rented.

The upshot: The carrot dangling over all of this is a piece of the federal $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund that London had been applying for. Federal housing minister Sean Fraser had written to the city to suggest the “as-of-right” zoning change, saying that “before taking a decision on London’s application, I respectfully urge you to ensure that the city is offering to do all that is within its power to address the housing crisis.” Not hard to read between the lines. It will be interesting to watch if the feds take more strong-armed tactics with municipalities on the housing file ― moves like this aren’t fundamentally different than proposals to withhold money from cities that miss targets. A bit more carrot than stick, but it hints at shifting dynamics between municipalities and a federal government increasingly in search of a breakthrough on housing. 

Read more: CTV London | London Free Press

Transit service between London and St. Thomas inching closer

A long-mooted transit connection between London and St. Thomas ― considered a crucial part of the equation when it comes to some of the large industrial employers setting up shop south of the city ― looks like it is getting closer to fruition. “We’re going to go at getting this done, long before winter we hope,” St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston told CTV News London. Preston said there’s been a lot more talk between himself and London counterpart, Mayor Josh Morgan, as well as some of the provincial officials who were in town for the recent AMO Conference. Preston also said an approach was made by London-based transit service Voyago to operate the route, although Morgan said they are still looking at all the options on the table.

The upshot: With the Amazon YXU-1 plant set to open in exactly one months’ time, the need for transit is growing ever more pressing (although Amazon is saying they believe most of their initial staff will be coming by car). The introduction of Voyago into this equation may move things along ― the company does serve as the operator of some other regional transit networks in Ontario, though it’s not exactly clear what the London-St. Thomas model might look like (and whether it would link up with the LTC service). But from the sounds of what Preston is saying, the two sides seem to be nearing a bit of a breakthrough, with a source of government funding looking like one of the last pieces of the puzzle. 

Read more: CTV London

Record number of med students begin training at Schulich

Class is about to be back in session, and amid a widespread doctor shortage, a bit of good news: Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry is welcoming its largest-ever class of first-year med students, with 190 students starting their studies. The announcement by the school notes that 16 of these seats are the result of a funding agreement with the Ontario government, which announced a $33-million investment in adding med school spots earlier this year. “Expanding enrolment is an important step to meeting the health needs of Southwestern Ontario,” said Dr. John Yoo, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry dean.

The upshot: School officials are quick to suggest that boosting enrolment numbers now should have a positive downstream effect for the number of doctors practicing in the London region over the next decade or so. Earlier in the year, London emergency room physician and the head of the Ontario Medical Association, Dr. Andrew Park, said he was “encouraged that medical schools are accepting more students.” Officials from Schulich echoed the sentiment in announcing the size of the incoming class. “Many physicians eventually practice in the locations where they train, so we’re optimistic this will result in more doctors for our region,” said Yoo. “And we’re committed not only to graduating more doctors, but also educating future physicians to serve the unique health needs of our region, including rural, regional and Indigenous communities.”

Read more: Western News | Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry

Health Canada edibles crackdown takes a bite out of Indiva’s sales

Local cannabis producer Indiva released their latest batch of financial results this week. Much like many other companies in the cannabis sector, Indiva’s net revenues were down across all categories for Q2, contributing to an 8.5 per cent decrease over last year, though overall, year-to-date revenues are pretty much flat. Indiva called this a “transitional” quarter for the company and pointed to the disruption caused by a Health Canada crackdown on their Life Lozenges brand of edible extracts ― a product category that had tried to skirt the potency limits until it caught the eye of the regulator earlier this year. Indiva was forced to take an inventory impairment hit of $700,000 in the quarter. Indiva was one of several producers of some lozenges and chewable extracts for which Health Canada had issued a “stop sale” request because their packages had been classified as extracts and contained more than 100 milligrams of THC.

The upshot: It’s interesting to see Indiva put such emphasis on the edible extract lozenges ― a significant product, but not the cornerstone of the company’s offerings, necessarily. You might read a bit of gamesmanship here as well, as in CEO Neil Marotta’s comments about the need for regulatory changes. For many in the cannabis industry, Health Canada’s crackdown on products like the Life Lozenges has come to encapsulate their broader frustration with over-regulation, believing it stands in contradiction with Health Canada’s stated goal of eradicating the illicit market. Still, Indiva is soldiering on with new product lines that, according to a company statement, will hopefully “recapture the significant incremental market share that our Lozenges left behind.” 

Read more: MJ Biz Daily | Indiva