From The Chronicle Herald (http://www.herald.ns.ca/Front/467002.html)'s website:

RIM to bring up to 1,200 jobs here

BlackBerry creator has plans to set up Dartmouth office
By DAVID JACKSON and STEPHEN MAHER Staff Reporters

Canadian information technology giant Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, will be setting up an office and creating about 1,200 jobs in Halifax Regional Municipality, sources said Thursday.

Geoff Regan, the federal political minister for Nova Scotia, and provincial Economic Development Minister Ernie Fage are to make the major announcement at Pier 21 in Halifax this morning.

The sources said the office location hasn’t been finalized, but the Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission issued a news release Thursday that said "a major technology company will be locating in Dartmouth, bringing well over 1,000 well-paying jobs."

Sources said Mr. Regan and Premier John Hamm played key roles in convincing Research in Motion to come to Nova Scotia.

The project is expected to create about 300 jobs in the short term, eventually increasing to four times that number. Another source said a typical salary would be in the $50,000 range.

It wasn’t clear whether Research in Motion, based in Waterloo, Ont., will establish a technical support centre or a research centre.

Either way, it’s "a big deal," said a political source in Ottawa. "My understanding is that it’s mostly research jobs."

Research in Motion is famous for making the BlackBerry, a hand-held computer that doubles as a cellphone. The little black machines are particularly popular in Ottawa, where politicians, journalists and political staffers can be seen frantically thumb-typing in restaurants and at bus stops.

The machines are also popular with movers and shakers in the United States and Europe.

Sources said Ottawa and the province will provide millions to the company, although the investment from the two levels of government "is fairly minimal compared to the company’s," one source said.

The development is also expected to be good news for other Nova Scotia high-tech firms.

"It’s transformative for the Nova Scotia economy," said a Nova Scotia Liberal staffer in Ottawa.

"It’s moving up into the new century. Bob Stanfield introduced a lot of industrial development projects 40 years ago, and this is now moving Nova Scotia to a new plateau."

Research in Motion’s decision is considered a huge win for the province, comparable to tire company Michelin’s move to Nova Scotia, one source said.

"This is probably the biggest opportunity . . . the province has seen in a long, long time," the source said.

Public Works Minister Scott Brison and Dartmouth-Cole Harbour MP Mike Savage are also expected to be at Pier 21 for the announcement.

Political staffers in normally leak-prone Ottawa have been quiet about the project, although there were hints that something was coming.

Research in Motion is a publicly traded company, so any leaks could affect the share price.

The firm, one of Canada’s most successful technology companies, has had some trouble lately. On Wednesday, the company’s share price on the New York Stock Exchange fell 90 cents to $66.28 after it announced the projected growth in its number of subscribers fell slightly because of product launch delays.

The company also has legal trouble in Virginia, where it is locked in a patent battle.

( djackson@herald.ca)

( smaher@herald.ca)

I find myself feeling pretty excited about this development - even more so than when foreign companies setup shop here - since RIM is Canadian. I mean, how often does that happen?

I am also pleased with it and hopefully many more will follow! Perhaps this will accelerate population growth on Halifax.

It's not going to be a research center, just a technical support center. If a customer has a problem the telephone company will try to work it out first. If they can't rectify the issue, then the technical support center gets involved - either directly or indirectly.

This is a huge win for Halifax and also a win for Canada because RIM was going to locate the center in the US until officials from NS intervened and convinced RIM to do otherwise.

I read this yesterday and got very excited. It will be interesting to see what this leads to in the future. I hope it means a new office building!

^ lol. That sure would be nice, but unfortunately Bayers Lake or Burnside are probably a lot more likely. I don't even think RIM's Headquarters in Ont. is in a downtown office tower is it? But we can still hope. ;)

^^ Yor are right. RIM has a lowrise (6 stories?)campus adjacent to the University of Waterloo. I was raised only a few blocks away from where RIM stands today.

It will almost certainly be in some kind of tilt-up box.

^ What's a tilt-up box? :lol:

They pour a concrete foundation, tilt up prefab walls, and put on a corrugated metal roof. It's pretty standard big box type construction.

Oh, thanks, lol.

RIM has 12 campus style buildings by UW campus. Unfortunately I have the exciting job of patrolling them. Building 10 is the biggest and has 75 scanners and take 1hr to partrol. Fun stuff but at least I get my exercise. North Campus of UW has become a another big high-tech area with Open TEXT, Sybase and others.

Great news for Halifax. Glad RIM chose it. They have a hard time getting workers in Waterloo because the city is near full employment - well close enough. Lowest unemployment outside of Calgary and Edmonton. I think KW situation has got worse as unemployment has been as low as 4% but is now around 5%.

Its not like unemployment is skyhigh in Halifax. Its only 5.4%.

Hey, that's great news for Halifax. Congrats guys.

RIM has 12 campus style buildings by UW campus. Unfortunately I have the exciting job of patrolling them. Building 10 is the biggest and has 75 scanners and take 1hr to partrol. Fun stuff but at least I get my exercise. North Campus of UW has become a another big high-tech area with Open TEXT, Sybase and others.

Great news for Halifax. Glad RIM chose it. They have a hard time getting workers in Waterloo because the city is near full employment - well close enough. Lowest unemployment outside of Calgary and Edmonton. I think KW situation has got worse as unemployment has been as low as 4% but is now around 5%.

Is this the reason why RIM is not putting the tech center in Waterloo? Are they unhappy in Waterloo?

Its not like unemployment is skyhigh in Halifax. Its only 5.4%.

This development will help drive the future growth of Halifax. The unemployment rate can be low for a lot of bad reasons. Not saying that is the case for Halifax.

This development will help drive the future growth of Halifax. The unemployment rate can be low for a lot of bad reasons. Not saying that is the case for Halifax.

That is true, labour shortages could be a reason or a large elderly population. Though this isn't the case in Halifax yet. Like you said this is a very good development for Halifax. It will get people with computer degrees into the field they should/want to be working in(instead of low-wage service jobs)

^^ You can also have a low unemployment rate because the young unemployed are all leaving for elsewhere - check out Sask. over the last 20 years for example. They always have a low unemployment figure, but the place hasn't grown.

That is true but not really the case here.

Halifax also has a half decent high-tech industry already. Aside from much larger cities it's arguably second only to Kitchener-Waterloo.

^ Really? Do you know any of the high-tech related business that are operating here?

There are a bunch and I don't really remember the names of all of the local companies (usually pretty generic), but AOL, Keane, CGI, and PeopleSoft all operate here. Xwave is also here of course and the financial companies to a lesser extent form part of the industry. Most of the local companies fill small niche markets... one company has designed and maintains automated parking meter systems used in cities like Hong Kong, for example.

There are also companies like MedMira around that would be considered high tech.

Halifax is not a big head office city but it's becoming popular for "near-shoring" type operations. I think that generally speaking people don't appreciate how well the city is doing. It really has a lot to offer given its low cost.

I find myself feeling pretty excited about this development - even more so than when foreign companies setup shop here - since RIM is Canadian. I mean, how often does that happen?
It is extremely hot news!! Now if they can just finish with this damn
Blackberry lawsuit. I hope to Hell they win the lawsuit and steam ahead.

Is this the reason why RIM is not putting the tech center in Waterloo? Are they unhappy in Waterloo?


Well not unhappy with, as they are still on expansion mode, however when a city nears full employment (3-4%) it starts posing a new set of problems. However, RIM are fortunate that UW is next door, so they'll have their imported talent. When Bill Gates recently did his lecture tour - he only had time for five of the best schools - Waterloo was the first university on his mind. Not bad for a modest Canadian school.

I would rather bleed out my eyes that take computers in university. All the mathies run around having nervous breakdowns cause they're only getting 90%. Poor things. Better to change your major or go to a party school like Western. Waterloo is no party. Its stressful, hell its stressful for Arts Students. One a recent university survey will placed high on everything except lack of school spirit. Like when does anyone at Waterloo have time for a social life? Just as well KW is quiet.

so this is the infamous eastern canada fourm eh?

Yup. It suuure is. Is it as pathetic as you expected? :lol:

Its so cold *shudders*

Hello?>>(echo)>>hello?>>>(echo)>>>hello?>>>>(echo)>>>>hello?...

^whassup?

Oh its nothing. Its just a thread form the Toronto fourm, someone said we should hold secret city VS city threads here because no one ever checks up on people here. I was just testing the theory. :)