Southern Ontario Spotlight - January 2022

Southern Ontario Spotlight

FedDev Ontario’s focus on economic development

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Making Headlines

Minister Jaczek announces support for southern Ontario’s manufacturing sector

Minister Jaczek announces support for southern Ontario’s manufacturing sector

The manufacturing sector remains a critical driver of the southern Ontario economy. The Government of Canada is committed to investing in homegrown manufacturers and companies that are supporting smarter and cleaner solutions and boosting critical local supply chains as we build towards a more sustainable and resilient economy.

The Honourable Helena Jaczek, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), announced a total investment of $8.5 million for four innovative businesses: Equispheres Inc., The Crump Group Inc., Fourmark Manufacturing Inc. and BIG-nano Corporation.

This funding will support the creation of over 110 new jobs and maintain over 75 existing jobs across the region, as well as reduce landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions, boost supply chain benefits and enhance market opportunities.

Southern Ontario’s SMEs have shown incredible resilience and adaptability in the face of COVID-19, and the Government of Canada is committed to providing businesses within southern Ontario’s manufacturing industry with the tools they need to scale-up, create good jobs and seize new opportunities to thrive well into the future.

 
Support for angel investors in southern Ontario

Support for angel investors in southern Ontario

Start-ups in southern Ontario face challenges raising the capital needed to grow and scale their businesses. These challenges have only been increased by the economic impact of COVID-19. Angel investor networks work to mobilize angel capital for entrepreneurs and prepare angel investors to help businesses to recover, grow and build a profitable future.

That is why Minister Jaczek announced a non-repayable contribution of over $5.4 million for a collaboration between the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) and Angel Investors Ontario (AIO) to support entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses and strengthen angel investment in southern Ontario. This collaboration aims to increase the amount of capital available to the region’s innovative start-up businesses through funding for up to 20 southern Ontario angel groups, and will also deliver training, workshops and events aimed at enhancing investment readiness of entrepreneurs. In addition, they will provide targeted programming for equity seeking groups, including women, newcomers, LGBTQ2 people, Indigenous peoples, and racialized groups, both in the angel investor community and for the founders who receive angel support.

"With this investment, early-stage businesses will be able to access the mentorship and capital they need to grow and succeed. The Government of Canada is committed to helping grow companies that create jobs so that we can continue to foster a strong and inclusive economic recovery."

The Honourable Helena Jaczek, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario

This project will help ensure that founders from diverse backgrounds and up to 800 early-stage businesses have access to the risk capital they need to unleash their growth potential and scale their businesses in communities across the region.

 
Family-owned Zappia Fine Foods Inc. wholesale bakery receives funding to scale up

Family-owned Zappia Fine Foods Inc. wholesale bakery receives funding to scale up

Canada’s food and beverage producers are vital to our nation’s food security and economic stability, and the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, continues to provide targeted support to the food and beverage processing sector to ensure businesses have the tools they need to scale up and create new jobs.

Minister Jaczek announced a $500,000 repayable FedDev Ontario contribution for family-owned wholesale bakery Zappia Fine Foods Inc. (operating as Via Oliveto Bakery) to outfit its new Barrie facility with a leading-edge production line, including a tunnel oven and mixer. With this support, which will also leverage $1.5 million in private investment, Via Oliveto will be able to quadruple its production. This expansion project will allow the bakery to launch new products, such as flatbread pretzels, and secure new contracts with large retailers. Rachel Zappia, manager of Via Oliveto Bakery, is from the M’Chigeeng First Nation and leads the company’s new inclusive hiring plan of Indigenous Peoples, which is a direct result of this funding.

 
Government of Canada celebrates first recipients of My Main Street program support

Government of Canada celebrates first recipients of My Main Street program support

On January 12, Minister Jaczek celebrated the first recipients of the My Main Street program at a virtual event hosted by the Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) and the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI).

Highlighting the importance of main street businesses to southern Ontario’s economy, the Minister recognized the recipients of the first round of this support. This includes 106 placemaking projects through the Community Activator stream, which was designed to renew the connection between people and commercial spaces in their neighbourhoods by supporting activities, events, and local improvements that will encourage the return of foot traffic to neighbourhoods, when it is safe to do so. Support for the 65 main street communities taking part in the Local Business Accelerator program was also announced. Through the program, main street communities will receive support through the hiring of a local Main Street Ambassador, customized market research, data analysis and direct business support. Resources provided through both streams can also be used to prioritize equity-seeking groups.

“The projects supported by this first round of My Main Street demonstrate how communities are creatively working to bring people together—safely, following all the protocols, with local businesses. They are reminding us of how our remarkable local places and spaces can be accessible to everyone, especially now.”
- Mary W. Rowe, President and CEO, Canadian Urban Institute

“Main streets that combine placemaking and a diverse business balance, result in successful local economies. This project enables communities to ensure that both are possible. Thanks to the support of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, communities in southern Ontario will have the resources to establish a strong foundation moving forward.”
- Heather Lalonde, CEO, Economic Developers Council of Ontario

Announced in August 2021, the Government of Canada, through FedDev Ontario, provided EDCO and CUI with a $23.25-million investment to support almost 5,000 businesses and nearly 4,500 jobs across southern Ontario over the next two years. Applications for Year Two for the My Main Street Community Activator program are currently being accepted until February 1, 2022. Interested municipalities, business improvement areas and community organizations located within southern Ontario (excluding Toronto) are encouraged to learn more and apply at www.mymainstreet.ca.

 
New call for Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy proposals

New call for Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy proposals

The Government of Canada remains committed to driving a strong, inclusive and sustainable economic recovery that addresses systemic gaps and empowers women in the economy.

A new call for project proposals under the Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Fund was recently announced, with $25 million available for projects that aim to remove systemic barriers and create more equal access to resources for women in business. Funding will be delivered by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada through the $6-billion Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) fund. To be considered, projects must be led by not-for-profit organizations, be national or multi-regional in scope, and should provide mentoring, networking, business development or capacity building, and skills development to support start-ups, scale-ups, supplier diversity and recovery planning/adaptation. Consideration will also be given to projects that will contribute to strengthening the network of women entrepreneurship organizations in Canada.

This new funding for the WES Ecosystem Fund builds on the historic investments the government has made to support women since 2015—from integrating gender-based analysis into policy decisions and program development, legislating pay equity and enhancing the Canada Child Benefit to providing special funding to support women entrepreneurs during the pandemic and working to make Canada-wide early learning and child care a reality through a $30 billion investment in Budget 2021.

 
Canada Digital Adoption Program launches new support streams

Canada Digital Adoption Program launches new support streams

The Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP) is part of the Government of Canada’s Budget 2021, and supports Canadian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to boost their e-commerce presence and digitize how they run their businesses behind the scenes. The program provides funding and expertise to businesses, as well as training and work opportunities for young Canadians.

Businesses will be able to apply for two different kinds of support:

 
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FedDev Ontario recipient news and updates

Partners announced to establish Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub
Partners announced to establish Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub

Partners announced to establish Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub

Carleton University and Dream Legacy Foundation have been chosen to establish the Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, the third pillar in the Black Entrepreneurship Program. Created through a $5-million investment from the government, the Knowledge Hub will conduct research and collect data on Black entrepreneurship in Canada and identify barriers to success as well as opportunities to help Black entrepreneurs grow their business.

The Hub will be an important component of Carleton University’s Innovation Hub incubator and accelerator, and the partnership with Dream Legacy Foundation, a Black-led not-for-profit focused on diversity and inclusion, aims to ensure an inclusive market economy in which systemic barriers are eradicated and the contributions of under-represented groups are amplified and valued. The partnership will also create regional hubs across the country, each led by a recognized post-secondary institution that will work collaboratively with community organizations to co-develop research on Black entrepreneurship, including a mapping of the Black entrepreneurship ecosystem.

 
Energy storage provider Hydrostor announces $250 million Goldman Sachs investment
Energy storage provider Hydrostor announces $250 million Goldman Sachs investment

Energy storage provider Hydrostor announces $250 million Goldman Sachs investment

Toronto-based energy storage solution provider Hydrostor recently announced it has received $250 million USD in financing from Goldman Sachs Asset Management. This investment will be used to support the ongoing development and construction of Hydrostor’s Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (“A-CAES”) projects in Australia and California, and will also support Hydrostor’s global growth initiatives, including expansion into markets with high demand for long-duration energy storage. Hydrostor’s innovative cleantech storage solution harnesses renewable solar- and wind-generated energy cheaply and efficiently by leveraging off-peak time rates, and storing energy in pressurized pumps that are released during high-demand periods with zero carbon emissions.

Hydrostor was a participant in the Scale-Up Platform at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District, a top southern Ontario innovation hub. In 2019, FedDev Ontario invested $52.4 million to bring together three top innovation hubs — Communitech, MaRS Discovery District and Invest Ottawa – to implement the Scale-Up Platform to help innovative companies grow more quickly and support the creation of 18,000 high-quality, skilled jobs.

To learn more about the Scale-Up Platform project, read FedDev Ontario’s success story here.

 
City of Toronto opens applications for Retail Accelerator Program
City of Toronto opens applications for Retail Accelerator Program

City of Toronto opens applications for Retail Accelerator Program

The City of Toronto is accepting applications for its Retail Accelerator Program (RAP) to support the economic recovery of main street businesses. RAP provides small businesses in Toronto with economic recovery resources such as access to retail training, advisory services and mentoring opportunities, and participants may be eligible for up to $10,000 in assistance funding.

RAP is part of the City of Toronto’s Main Street Recovery and Rebuild Initiative (MRRI), a collection of six programs developed to assist small businesses in Toronto to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Main street businesses are a vital part of southern Ontario’s diverse communities and the economy as a whole, and the Government of Canada remains committed to ensuring small businesses have the tools and support they need to recover, evolve and expand. In 2021, FedDev Ontario provided the City of Toronto with an $18-million contribution toward the MRRI to support small businesses, community business associations and retail innovation.

 
Business accelerator Catapult Grey Bruce accepting applications for new Fast Lane Plus™ program
Business accelerator Catapult Grey Bruce accepting applications for new Fast Lane Plus™ program

Business accelerator Catapult Grey Bruce accepting applications for new Fast Lane Plus™ program

Catapult Grey Bruce, a not-for-profit organization committed to creating a dynamic and thriving entrepreneurship ecosystem in Grey Bruce, recently announced it is accepting applications for Fast Lane PlusTM, an accelerator developed by Innovation Guelph aimed at helping entrepreneurs and business leaders overcome their toughest business challenges by providing them with expert resources to build capacity, generate more sales and market their products or services beyond the local region.

 

Through Fast Lane PlusTM, entrepreneurs will work with experienced mentors to analyse their businesses to uncover areas of growth opportunity, and may be eligible to receive up to $2,200 towards implementing a project with a Catapult Grey Bruce mentor or industry expert. For more information on the program and details on how to apply, visit the Catapult Grey Bruce’s website.

 

In July 2021, FedDev Ontario provided Grey County with an $845,000-non-repayable FedDev Ontario contribution to enhance service offering and business programming at the Sydenham Campus Regional Skills Training, Trades and Innovation Centre in Owen Sound, which is the home of Catapult Grey Bruce.

 
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Social media highlights

  • providers of tourist experiences
  • tourism clusters and dependent communities
  • providers of anchor services or products in destinations
  • See if your southern Ontario tourism org is eligible: http://ow.ly/rnjm50Hwnwt
 

Is your southern Ontario #aerospace organization working towards:

  • Green products and operations?
  • Resilience and global competitiveness?
  • Breaking barriers to achieve equity and diversity?
  • Digital adoption and enhanced cybersecurity?
  • http://ow.ly/hg9l50HmLUF

Since 1937, the Bering Family has been producing one of Canada’s best-tasting national treasures: 100% Pure Maple Syrup. With over 75 years and three generations of perfecting its recipes, White Meadows Farms offers four grades of pure maple syrup and has recently adapted its premises into an outdoor dining experience!

  • Celebrate this day by shopping and supporting local.
  • #Maplesyrup #Canada #SouthernOntario #FDORecipient #Niagara #Tourism
 
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Upcoming Events

Event September 12

Feb 3

7th Annual Transportation Summit: Ahead By a Century: Inspiring the Next Generation of Transportation (Hybrid)

The Summit provides a forum for the business sector to highlight the role it could play in building a transportation system that meets the needs of the region. This year’s event will focus on the challenges of delivering major transportation projects including adopting technologies, fare reform, and accelerating infrastructure construction.

Event September 12

Feb 9

Canada 360° Economic Summit (Online)

The Chamber’s annual Summit discusses policy solutions needed for Canada to compete in a changing economic landscape. The event will include a fireside chat with Creative Destruction Lab’s Rapid Screening Consortium, a business-led recovery panel, a panel featuring businesses from the hardest-hit sectors, a panel about Canada’s green and economic recover, a panel about Canada’s role in the evolving international trade.

Event September 12

Feb 9-11

2022 OBIO Investment Summit (Online)

The Summit hopes to drive investment in Canada by offering a meeting platform for investors, science experience, and health science companies. The event will feature a mixture of company pitch sessions, keynote presentations and one-on-one meeting opportunities.

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