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The future on Victoria Drive
As we report on page 7 this week, at press time the work was still going on at the Co-op site on Brock Street and Victoria Drive for the beautiful new office building being erected there by First Leaside. Not nearly as bustling as it was the same time last week, but the crane was moving, the concrete was pouring. At least some indication that in some areas at least, things are still moving forward for the Uxbridge-based company.
In other areas, not so much. Calling some of the company’s business practices “inappropriate” (we assume that’s a far cry from illegal), the Ontario Securities Commission has asked First Leaside to cease trading and restructure its finances and operations. In a message to investors on its website, the company says it’s moving quickly to do exactly that, and have the “cease trade” order lifted as soon as possible.
But how soon is possible? We confess to being somewhat in the dark on how Bay Street operates, but we assume that if the Securities Commission shuts a company down, they don’t do it lightly, and they will need a whole lot of convincing before they let it operate again. How soon can it be done? A month? Six months? A year?
First Leaside is based in Uxbridge (more accurately for now, in Roseville) because its boss, Dave Phillips, likes it here. Most of the managers operate from his farm on Hwy. 8, and he has a call centre behind James-Campbell Insurance, among many scattered, we presume, across the continent.But the nerve centre in the future was going to be the celebrated glass palace beside the railroad.
Earlier this week, we tried a number of times to get Mr. Phillips, or someone at the company at least, to give us an idea of how the construction project would be impacted by this change in the company’s fortunes. That, after all, is the principal involvement of First Leaside in our community. Each time our reporter called the office, she was directed to a different person, who said someone would get back to her with some answers. No one ever did.
We certainly understand that things at First Leaside are a little chaotic at the moment. But the decision of the OSC came down last week, and the company should have anticipated that the Uxbridge media would be anxious to tell their readers what this all means for them. A message to investors is well and good; a message to its neighbours is also called for.
After all, it was a good long time from when we first heard about First Leaside’s plans, to when the Co-op finally came down, and another fair stretch before the construction crews finally began their work. We’ve been looking forward to this award-winning building becoming reality. To have to look at a mothballed construction site for months will be something else altogether.
To their credit, even before many of their employees had begun moving to Uxbridge, Mr. Phillips and First Leaside demonstrated their commitment to Uxbridge by getting involved in many community ventures and causes. We hope they will continue that exemplary corporate citizenship by being honest with us about their future, because to some considerable extent, it’s our future as well.
July 14, 2011
