Business View Magazine | May 2019

247 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE MAY 2019 Clarington, Ontario EXPERIENCE THE PLEASURES C larington is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, at the eastern end of the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA). The municipality consists of urban communities, including Bowmanville (home of the municipal offices), Courtice, Newcastle, Orono, and several rural hamlets. That’s the more formal description. At the other end of the spectrum - from apple blossoms to medical isotopes, salmon to cannabis - the Municipality of Clarington is evolving as a haven of economic diversity. Add in the pleasures of Lake Ontario vistas and the spectacular Oak Ridges Moraine, and there is no wonder that businesses, tourists, and residents, alike, are besotted. Encompassing a total area of 236 square miles, Clarington has a large cache of developable land. Housing prices and taxes are among the most affordable in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). The population sits just shy of 100,000, with a steady influx of more people moving into the area. Half of all development in the Durham Region has been happening between Oshawa and Clarington; an average 8.8 percent annual growth over the last five years. The economy is growing on several fronts, and there is much news to share. Adrian Foster, now in his third term as Mayor of Clarington, reports, “We’ve got a cluster of cannabis growers here, including Starseed, Canopy Growth Corporation,