Pickering
Beginning in the 1770s, the area was colonized predominantly by ethnic British colonists who were of British descent. Following the American Revolutionary War, when the British Crown relocated Loyalists and encouraged fresh immigration, the population of the United Kingdom increased. Many of the smaller rural communities have been saved and are now used as historic sites and museums of national and provincial significance. Among the city’s other developments is the construction of Durham Live, a multi-billion-dollar casino facility.
There are eight nuclear power reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, which has a total capacity of 4,120 megawatts and is located in Pickering, which is situated near Bowmanville, Ontario Canada. Pickering A, the first station to be built, was completed in 1971 with four reactors. The plant’s operator, Ontario Power Generation, is the city’s largest single employer, employing at over 20,000 people. On the location of the generating station, the OPG 7 Commemorative Turbine, which is powered by wind, was dedicated in 2001. Beginning in 2024, decommissioning of the nuclear power station is expected to begin.
In addition, the city is home to a number of manufacturing companies. Yorkville Sound, the Canadian headquarters of Purdue Pharma, Hubbell Canada, PSB Speakers – Lenbrook, and Eco-Tec Inc. are just a few of the major employers in the area.
Pickering is a founding member of the Durham Strategic Energy Alliance (DSEA), which was established in 2009. Businesses based in Pickering, including Ontario Power Generation, Veridian, Siemens/Trench, Tetra Tech WEI, AECL, Intellimeter, Areva and Eco-Tec Inc., form the nucleus of the DSEA.
A major attraction in the city is the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, which has its headquarters there. MPAC is responsible for doing value assessments for the purposes of determining property tax assessments for all municipalities in Ontario. A shift to the downtown area of Pickering was made possible by the relocation of Search Engine People, the largest Internet marketing company in Canada, in 2012.
Profit magazine named Pickering as one of the top ten cities in Canada for company growth in 2006, and it continues to be so today.
When the Region of Durham released its Business Count report in 2013, it revealed that Pickering has the highest number of jobs among the municipalities of Durham Region, with over 29,000 positions. This value represents a nearly one-third employment to inhabitant ratio.
The implementation of Seaton and downtown intensification are expected to result in the production of 40,000 new jobs in Pickering over the next two decades, according to the province’s planning.
