Southern Ontario Spotlight - October 2020

On October 2, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an additional $600 million in funding through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund (RRRF), bringing the total support to over $1.5 billion. Since May, Canada’s regional development agencies have been delivering this funding to businesses across Canada to help them maintain their operations and prepare for recovery.

The investments made by FedDev Ontario since the launch of the RRRF just over four months ago are supporting nearly 26,000 businesses and organizations, maintaining 43,000 jobs and helping businesses cover operating costs and prepare for a more stable future.

With an additional $184 million, FedDev Ontario will be able to help even more businesses to pay their bills, keep their lights on and their shelves stocked, and maintain valuable jobs.

Community Futures Development Corporations have been integral partners in the delivery of RRRF funding to rural businesses and organizations, and will continue to support their communities with $30 million of the additional RRRF funding.

“The RRRF not only helped our company weather the COVID storm, but has positioned us for growth post-COVID. We have a plan to increase jobs, expand our exports to the US and expedite our R&D to develop new competitive products. Thank you for supporting our company and affording us that opportunity!”

- Susan Koppers, Director of Operations, Koppers Fishing and Tackle

To find out if you are eligible, please visit our website.

As part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to creating jobs and economic growth, the Prime Minister also announced $10 billion in support of the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s Growth Plan. The five major initiatives supported through the Plan will connect more households and small businesses to high-speed Internet, strengthen Canadian agriculture, and help build a low-carbon economy.

On September 22, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Canada’s Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages, took part in the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s Reimagining Recovery Summit Series event, moderating a virtual panel focused on regional collaboration for economic recovery. Joined by mayors John Tory, Bonnie Crombie and Fred Eisenberger (of Toronto, Mississauga, and Hamilton, respectively), Minister Joly heard about the challenges of each region’s constituents, how each leader approached their regional peers to work cooperatively in recovery efforts, and how the regions will continue to keep innovation at the forefront of their efforts.

On October 13, Parliamentary Secretary (PS) Kate Young attended a roundtable event hosted by Digital Main Street's ShopHERE Program powered by Google. The Small Business Stories webinar brought local small business owners and entrepreneurs together for an engaging discussion to share their opinions and perspectives as members of one of the hardest-hit sectors. PS Young outlined key funding available to main street businesses through the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund, and listened as panelists discussed their unique challenges, victories, concerns and takeaways in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government of Canada is committed to collaborating with local communities and businesses to offer support through the COVID-19 pandemic. FedDev Ontario partnered with both Digital Main Street and the Toronto Region Board of Trade to deliver the Digital Main Street and Recovery Activation programs to support businesses to adapt to a more virtual world.

October is Small Business Month, and FedDev Ontario is celebrating the success of several companies that have been named in The Globe and Mail’s annual ranking of Canada’s Top Growing Companies.

This year, 12 FedDev Ontario funding recipients have made the list! Congratulations to the following for this recognition:

Bridgit

Daisy Intelligence Corporation

Vive Crop Protection Inc.

Sensibill Inc.

StackAdapt Inc.

Voltera Inc.

Fiix Inc.

Martello Technologies

Maxsold Inc.

Giatec Scientific Inc.

WordJack Media Ltd.

Terra Cotta Foods Ltd.

 

It is companies like these that are helping to create good jobs, stimulate economic growth and position Canada as a global leader.

Visit our pivotal projects page to learn more about the impact of southern Ontario’s small businesses.

With decades of globally recognized strengths in communications technology, a highly skilled talent pool and unique network infrastructure, Ottawa is a leader in autonomy and mobility innovation. As we move towards a more connected future, testing and validation of these technologies is critical to safe and secure implementation and adoption.  

On October 13, Minister Joly, along with Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre Catherine McKenna, announced a FedDev Ontario investment of $7 million for Invest Ottawa to bring new, globally unique capabilities to Area X.O (formerly known as Ottawa L5).  

Led by Invest Ottawa, Area X.O is a state-of-the-art test environment that enables businesses, entrepreneurs and researchers to create, commercialize and adopt breakthrough innovations in mobility, autonomy and connectivity.

With this funding, Invest Ottawa will add advanced network technologies, an additive manufacturing (3D printing) platform for specialized prototyping, and a cybersecurity innovation lab to the facility to help businesses enhance the security of their technologies and accelerate innovation. The project also includes a new, fully equipped mobile command centre that can bring a secure network to any location, without external connectivity. This will support rural innovation by allowing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in smaller communities across the region test and validate their solutions right in their own location.

This project will support 35 companies and will create 200 new jobs and maintain over 200 more. It also leverages nearly $10 million in new communications technology and expertise from industry heavyweights, including Blackberry QNX, Nokia and Ericsson Canada.

As part of the virtual announcement, Minister Joly hosted a panel discussion with leaders from companies who have benefitted from Area X.O on the value and impact of the new capabilities supported by FedDev Ontario.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of keeping Canada at the cutting edge of health technology to offer the best possible care to Canadians, while supporting economic growth.

On October 9, Minister Joly announced a total FedDev Ontario investment of $13.4 million to support four Toronto-based organizations to advance health innovation.

Among the recipients is Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP), a membership-based organization of top universities and major research hospitals and institutes that are working together to advance health science technologies by supporting companies all the way from discovery to market. This funding will allow TIAP to expand its programming and geographical reach to create a network aimed at scaling high-growth health and life sciences companies, with a focus on three key areas: therapeutics, artificial intelligence and medical technology. Through this project, TIAP expects to create over 400 highly skilled jobs, scale up 32 life science companies, and support at least six companies to become anchor firms in the southern Ontario life sciences sector.

The Toronto life sciences ecosystem abounds with companies that have developed digital solutions aimed at improving the quality of patient care. The announcement also included a total investment of $6.9 million for MindBeacon Holdings Inc., Cyclica Inc., and InputHealth to scale up their innovations, including digital mental health treatments, drug discovery software powered by artificial intelligence and software solutions for greater patient engagement and coordination of care.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, these companies have shown resilience and seized opportunities for growth. This investment will support them as they continue to advance their innovative technologies, while helping Canada stay at the forefront of health care innovation as we work to build back better.

Southern Ontario’s tourism industry is essential to the region’s vitality and a major contributor to the economy. Every year, millions of travelers visit the area to enjoy its natural beauty, culture, festivals, theatre, world-class wineries and waterfront attractions. This translates to income and jobs for many communities. Recognizing the significant impact that COVID-19 has had on tourism, the Government of Canada continues to support the recovery and growth of this important industry as the economy reopens and in a way that is safe and in line with Public Health guidelines.

Over the past several weeks, FedDev Ontario has made targeted investments to support southern Ontario’s tourism sector.

This includes a $2-million investment to support tourism in Kingston, Stratford and Bruce County, as well as $500,000 to support Prince Edward County. With this funding, these communities will provide non-repayable contributions of up to $20,000 to local tourism-oriented businesses to help cover costs associated with recovery and reopening for business, such as personal protective equipment, renovations to accommodate social distancing and implementing new safety protocols.

For more information or to apply, please visit Kingston, Stratford, Bruce County, and Prince Edward County websites.