Over 175 people attended the June 14 th event in North York to hear nine guest speakers talk about ways to revitalize Ontario downtowns. The Office for Urban Economic Development, in partnership with EDCO and the Ministry of Citizenship, Culture and Recreation hosted the conference. The Office for Urban Economic Development, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, added a new searchable, online resource centre for economic development information to its website on June 19. The resource site is diverse in nature, and includes listings from Ontario, Canada, and the United States, along with international sources. Publications, reports, website links, organizations, conference proceedings, research and teaching programs, videos and films are available, and the site will be continually updated and built up over time.
Documents created by or for the UED are also online.
If passed, the new legislation paves the way for Ontario to adopt national and international standards for e-commerce law, based on the United Nations Commission Model Law on Electronic Commerce. Ontario's proposed ECA is consistent with these widely accepted international standards. Most significantly, the ECA would ensure electronic signatures, contracts, and documents have the same legal validity as those on paper, and establish rules for automated transactions and correcting mistakes on a computer. Governments around the world are taking steps to ensure electronic signatures and documents are legally recognized. In Canada, private contracts are a matter of provincial jurisdiction.