Toronto Community Foundation launches 2010 Toronto Vital Signs

Toronto Community Foundation President & CEO Rahul K. Bhardwaj yesterday launched the 2010 Toronto Vital Signs, a comprehensive annual report on 11 key indicators of Toronto's quality of life. Bhardwaj gave a speech to the Canadian Club to launch the report, which was accompanied by an open letter with advice for the new mayor of Toronto. The letter outlines the need for Toronto to step up to the real challenges we face, promote collaborative leadership, and enable Toronto to emerge as a truly global city. Bhardwaj's speech was broadcast live by Rogers, and will be available online later this week.

The Vital Signs summary offers an excellent overview of some of the challenges we face in ensuring we have a livable and vibrant city. These challenges are germane to our overall productivity as a city and a region. From improving learning opportunities and the conditions of  the creative class, facilitating immigrant integration for an active workforce that can meet the skills gaps and shortages with innovation literacy, to ensuring we have an efficient and effective transportation system, we have much to celebrate but also lots to work on with respect to working, getting started in Canada and  improving our overall health and wellness. The 11 indicators in the Vital Signs report offer key insights for improving productivity. It is incumbent on us all to heed these insights, and to ensure they are front and centre in our ongoing discussions about how we can best be enablers of the innovation economy and to create a healthy, vibrant and innovative society.

George Brown College is the lead research partner for the Toronto Community Foundation's Vital Signs.