Southern Ontario Spotlight - September 2022

On August 31, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the Honourable Filomena Tassi as the Minister Responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario. Born and raised in Hamilton, southern Ontario is the place Minister Tassi calls home. She has dedicated her professional life to advocating for our families and supporting our businesses and our communities. She will now continue this important work at FedDev Ontario.

Minster Helena Jaczek assumes the role of Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada. During her tenure at FedDev Ontario, Minister Jaczek helped create jobs and economic growth in southern Ontario by championing the delivery of regionally tailored programs and services.

FedDev Ontario congratulates Minister Jaczek and Minister Tassi on their respective new roles. We are excited to work together with Minister Tassi as we continue to provide vital support to small and medium-sized businesses across the region.

September 27th was World Tourism Day, a day to focus on the tourism industry across Canada and to celebrate the rich, diverse experiences this country has to offer. The Government of Canada’s $500-million Tourism Relief Fund is helping tourism-oriented businesses and organizations recover from the pandemic and prepare for future growth. FedDev Ontario is delivering nearly $120 million of tourism relief funding across southern Ontario.

This past summer, the Agency made several investments in the tourism sector totaling nearly $10 million, including a contribution for Ottawa’s Capital Pride, a not-for-profit organization that hosts the city’s annual Pride Festival celebrating the rich and diverse 2SLGBTQI+ community in the National Capital Region. This investment helped Capital Pride create and install interactive artwork created by members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community within the city. In the Greater Toronto Area, a FedDev Ontario investment was provided to the operators of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival to modernize the event, expand offerings and enhance visitor experience. With this investment, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival developed an app to enhance the visitor experience, updated its website to support online ticket sales, and will host Caribbean Carnival-themed events throughout the year showcasing culinary experiences and artisan and vendor marketplaces. In addition, a Government of Canada investment was announced for five arts and culture projects in the GTA area, where recipients will produce creative and cultural events, showcasing the works of local artists and attracting tourists and artists back to the GTA. This funding includes a non-repayable contribution for the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival to create an installation of a series of 22 outdoor public art projects and develop a website to feature the artistic works online.

In Sarnia-Lambton, funding was announced for the Victoria Playhouse, a 400-seat state-of-the-art theatre in the centre of downtown Petrolia that attracts over 40,000 visitors annually. With this funding, the theatre will extend its season from three to six weeks and add digital screens to enhance the visitor experience. In London, a Tourism Relief Fund investment announced for the London Children's Museum will allow them to adapt the top floor of the historic Kellogg’s cereal factory into its new 35,000 square foot venue, where children can explore science, art, technology, nature, history, and culture in a state-of-the-art educational space featuring eight immersive, interactive exhibits.

Investments such as these help strengthen communities across southern Ontario, bringing people together to celebrate Canada’s cultural heritage, creating good jobs, and helping local businesses thrive.

Festivals and major events (such as sporting events, exhibitions, etc.) are a cornerstone of Canada’s tourism sector. The Government of Canada’s Major Festivals and Events Support Initiative (MFESI) is a $200-million fund supporting major festivals and events across the country that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This past summer, FedDev Ontario made several significant MFESI investments across southern Ontario totaling almost $50 million. This started in July with support for the Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada (Stratford Festival) to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, expand operations and extend its season to produce a total of 10 plays, which will result in positive economic impacts for the Stratford-area tourism and hospitality sectors. Funding was also announced to support the return of Tennis Canada's National Bank Open tournament, as well as support for the Boots and Hearts Music Festival, Canada’s largest country music festival. This funding will enable event organizers to safely welcome visitors, while providing economic and job benefits to businesses across the region.

FedDev Ontario also announced investments to support the return of two important Toronto events: the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). These investments, delivered through the MFESI, supported the strong return of both events following the pandemic. FedDev Ontario support allowed the CNE to modernize its digital presence and on-site offerings such as new heritage-themed programming, a new pyrotechnics and drone stage, and a new structure at the Kids World pavilion. A non-repayable investment in TIFF allowed the festival to increase the number of indoor venues used for screenings, support the return of the Street Festival and surrounding events, as well as implement enhanced health measures to keep visitors safe. Also announced was support for the Niagara area’s Shaw Festival - one of the world’s leading repertory theatre companies. After pandemic-related closures and show cancellations, this MFESI investment will help the Shaw Festival return to its pre-pandemic scale with 13 shows, a new concert series and Fairground and Shawground events.

Most recently, FedDev Ontario announced funding for Golf Canada to support the return of the CP Women’s Open and the RBC Canadian Open tournaments. With this funding, Golf Canada improved its digital presence, enhanced on-site offerings and safely accommodated more attendees, while providing economic and job benefits to businesses across the region.

The aerospace sector continues to be at the forefront of the manufacturing industry, providing skilled employment and rich export capabilities in regions across the country, and regional airports play important role in the movement of people and goods across the country. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the ongoing recovery and long-term success of companies operating in the aerospace and air transportation sectors through the $250 million Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative (ARRI) and the $206-million national Regional Air Transportation Initiative (RATI).

FedDev Ontario announced over $2.6 million for Downsview Aerospace Innovation & Research (DAIR), a notforprofit organization working to build a physical aerospace innovation hub, at Downsview Park in Toronto. FedDev Ontario representatives toured the Toronto Metropolitan University Aerospace Engineering Centre, the site for the next phase of DAIR hub physical expansion, as well as the Bombardier Centre for Aerospace and Aviation, and later sat down for a roundtable discussion with representatives from leading aerospace manufacturing firms to hear about current priorities and ideas on creating a more globally competitive Canadian aerospace sector. This ARRI investment for DAIR will help fund projects that will support the government’s initiative to a greener future and will help SMEs enhance operations to meet customer needs and become more competitive in the global supply chain. Also announced was a non-repayable contribution of over $2.8 million for four southern Ontario airports: Kingston Airport, Cornwall Regional Airport, Huronia Airport and Arnprior Airport. This RATI investment will help these facilities perform crucial upgrades, including upgraded security and surveillance equipment, new runway lighting and terminal updates to adapt to a post-COVID environment.

In August, FedDev Ontario President Nancy Gardiner attended tours and roundtable discussions at two prominent southern Ontario Regional Innovation Centres (RICs) (and past FedDev Ontario funding recipients) to hear about recent developments in Canada’s innovation ecosystem.

Ms. Gardiner toured ventureLAB and learned about the company’s current interest in Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s $150 million Semiconductor Challenge Callout. Due to the current shortage of semiconductors, often used in products such as automobiles, consumer electronics and medical devices, the Government of Canada is seeking large-scale ideas from industry and other ecosystem players that address how Canada can build on existing R&D and manufacturing strength to position the country as a critical global supplier of specialized semiconductors manufacturing.

Ms. Gardiner also met with leaders at MaRS Discovery District, a Toronto-based not-for-profit innovation hub that supports more than 1,400 entrepreneurs and high-growth firms to grow and scale their businesses. After an extensive tour of the facility, Ms. Gardiner learned of the recently-launched Climate Impact Accelerator program, a MaRS initiative in partnership with KPMG, designed to speed up the decarbonization of large corporations. The fee-for-service program will leverage KPMG’s network of clients who are looking for commercial-ready innovations to reach their climate targets. Ms. Gardiner also learned of the firm’s First Adopter Network (FAN), a partnership with the University of Toronto to create a digital space where Canada’s medium and large enterprises can source home-grown solutions from startups in many different sectors of the innovation ecosystem. The next phase of FAN will focus on advancing cleantech partnerships, which is in line with MaRS’s ongoing national initiative to accelerate clean tech adoption and exports by building sustainable markets for clean technology. In addition to those climate projects, Mission from MaRS: Climate Impact Challenge has wrapped up its first phase. The special initiative provided 10 ventures with tailored advisory services, including a carbon reduction assessment, as well as coaching on strategic sales, financing and partnerships.

FedDev Ontario remains focused on supporting innovative projects that align with clean and inclusive economic growth, a key priority for the Government of Canada.