GTMA Activities & Announcements:

1

GTMA Welcomes New Business Development Coordinator Karol Murillo

GTMA welcomes Karol Murillo as Business Development Coordinator. Karen Campbell, President & CEO, is pleased to announce that Ms. Karol Murillo joined the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance on May 1st on a one-year assignment as Business Development Coordinator, filling in for Stana Poch-Wilson while she is on maternity leave.  Ms. Murillo’s responsibilities include researching, collecting and maintaining the GTA community profile; assisting with the preparation of information and presentation materials required for servicing investment leads; and responding to information requests from local and international sources.

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2

GTMA Sells French Company on GTA Location

The Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance is pleased to welcome ARKADIN to the Greater Toronto Area.  The Paris based conferencing service company with world-wide revenues of $45 million has worked with the GTMA in opening its GTA-based Canadian operation.  Rija Raharinosy, Sales Manager, Arkadin, comments on the GTMA’s role in selling the company on the GTA, “The GTMA helped us understand the benefits of the Toronto area…their knowledge and contacts were instrumental in getting us established in the GTA quickly.

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From highest to lowest live theatre ticket sales, where does Toronto rank with New York, Chicago, L.A. & London in terms of English language live theatre?

1st                             2nd                             3rd                             4th                             5th

Measured by population, what percentage of the U.S. market can you fly to in 90 minutes from Greater Toronto's Pearson International Airport?

30%                           40%                           50%                           60%                           70%

Take the GTA Challenge

Take the GTA Automotive Industry Challenge

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4

Australia Mission Downunder a Big Success

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GTMA Gratefully Acknowledges Partnership Renewals

The on-going support and participation of the private sector is essential to the success of the GTMA.  The GTMA gratefully acknowledges a renewed partnership with Gardiner Roberts LLP.   We encourage you to consider using the products and services of the GTMA’s corporate partners. Click here for complete listing of GTMA Partner’s Resources and Services.

Headquartered in Toronto, Gardiner Roberts LLP is a mid-size law firm dedicated to all areas of business, financial and commercial matters. The firm serves a wide range of clients from small to large-size public and private business organizations, associations, municipalities and government agencies. Gardiner Roberts provides a full roster of legal corporate and commercial services, including services in finance and technology, intellectual property, and immigration law. It also concentrates on municipal and public sector law, real estate, entertainment and media, tax issues and acts as litigation counsel through focused and energetic legal teamwork and resourceful solutions.

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CONTACT:

Lou Milrad

IT Law Partner

40 King Street West

Suite 3100, Scotia Plaza

Toronto, ON M5H 3Y2

T: 416-865-6650

F: 416-865-6636

lmilrad@gardiner-roberts.com                

GTA News:

GTA Companies Top the List on PROFIT 100 Ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies

TORONTO (June 2006) - The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) once again dominates the list of PROFIT Magazine’s ranking of Canada’s fastest growing companies with over 40 percent of the top 100 calling the Greater Toronto Area home.  The PROFIT 100 is the definitive list of Canada’s top growth businesses, ranking companies based on five-year sales growth, revenue growth, profit margin, number of employees and export as a percentage of sales. View the full Article

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Intelligent Community Forum Announces Recipients of 2006 Awards

The Intelligent Community Forum is a global think tank that focuses on the uses of broad­band and information technology for economic, social and cultural development by communities the world over. At its NYC conference on June 9, the winners of the 2006 Intelligent Community awards were announced. Although no GTA community was in the running this year, the Canadian delegation that attended rooted for Waterloo, which was the only Canadian city in the Top 7 list. Toronto was on the Top 7 list in 2005. Waterloo lost out to Taipei, which won on the strength of several years attempts at the award, their ongoing and extensive Cybercity initiatives such as their high-speed broadband wireless M-Taipei initiative, technology parks, internet training initiatives, among others, and the leadership of their Mayor in Taipei. The GTA benefited from two wins in the categories of Intelligent Building of the Year: MaRS and Lifetime achievement award: Bill Hutchison, who chairs the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation’s iWaterfront initiative aimed at turning the Toronto Waterfront into an “intelligent waterfront.”

Attending from the GTA were representatives from the City of Toronto, City of Mississauga, City of Burlington and the City of Vaughan. The Annual Meeting of the Intelligent Community Forum in NYC attracts about 50 attendees from the GTA and south-western Ontario. As a result, the Canadian Consulate in NYC and the Province of Ontario annually host the Top 7 Intelligent Community Reception. In addition to the conference, an Alumni for all previous Top 7 winners and Smart 21 finalists was initiated at a special dinner function on June 7 hosted by the NY Grant Company. The Alumni includes the City of Toronto (Top 7, 2005) and Burlington (Smart 21, 2005). Board Director Lou Milrad attended the conference this year. The volunteer Chairman of ICF and Conference MC was GTMA’s VP of International Marketing, John Jung.

For further information on ICF and the conference and complete list of awards, please see: www.intelligentcommunity.org.

2006 Canadian New Media Awards

CNMA unveiled this year's fifteen winners at the Carlu in Toronto. The winners, from across such disciplines as online, interactive, animation and video game fields, were selected from 43 finalists and were each presented with a prestigious Pixel award in recognition of their significant achievements in new media over the past year. This year's recipients included several from the GTA:

• Excellence in News, Information: CBC.ca Olympic web site - Toronto
• Excellence in Culture, Lifestyle, Arts: Canadian Tapestry by ecentricarts inc. - Toronto
• Excellence in Cross Platform: BITE TV - Mississauga
• Special Recognition Award: Andra Sheffer from Bell Fund - Toronto
• Programmer of the Year: James Eberhardt - Toronto
• Company of the Year: QuickPlay Media - Toronto, ON

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Canadian Australian Chamber of Commerce (CACC) Launched

The GTA chapter of the CACC was launched at an event at Gowlings on June 12, 2006. In addition to members from the GTMA’s Business Mission to Australia, the event was well attended by companies and organizations that have an interest in both countries and wanting to see increased trade and investment between them. The Australian Ambassador to Canada, Bill Fisher, and Consul General in Toronto, Sally Ann Watts, attended as did a small virtual delegation from Sydney via video-conference.  In addition to several speakers related to the CACC, Karen Campbell spoke at this gathering on behalf of the GTMA.

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The GTMA congratulates Patrick Draper on his recent appointment as Program Director Economic Strategy, for the York Region Economic Development Branch, and we look forward to continuing our positive working relationship with the Region's Economic Development staff.

Mr. Draper has held the position of Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism in 1997 and 1998. His private sector experience includes a number of senior executive positions at Pepsi Cola, Chiquita Brands, Neilson Cadbury and Paramount Travel Group. Most recently he was Managing Director of Panoramic Communication where he launched the Careers in York Program encouraging people to work closer to home.

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