Question Period Note: FedDev Ontario Overview

FedDev Ontario Overview

• The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario’s (FedDev Ontario’s) mandate is to advance economic development in southern Ontario and its core mission is to build a strong southern Ontario economy that is resilient in times of crisis and catalyzes innovation, growth and economic development.

• The region is among the hardest hit by tariffs and FedDev Ontario is on the front lines of Canada’s response, making investments to help businesses and communities improve their competitiveness, diversify and enhance their resilience.

• FedDev Ontario is laser-focused on delivering on our government’s key missions, including investments to strengthen our defence industrial base and supporting the nation-building projects that will create new regional opportunities.

• Southern Ontario’s companies and innovators are turning strength into scale, building, producing, and commercializing Canadian innovation at home to drive the economy of the future. FedDev Ontario’s investments help bring made-in-Canada technologies and products to market in many strategic sectors, including AI, defence, advanced manufacturing, and life sciences.

• FedDev Ontario was established in 2009 with a focus on providing stimulus during an economic downturn. FedDev Ontario's mandate is economic development in southern Ontario and its core mission is to build a strong southern Ontario economy that is resilient in times of crisis and catalyzes innovation, growth and economic development.

• FedDev Ontario plays three key roles for the federal government in the region:
o Invest – helping transform southern Ontario by funding growth projects across the region
o Connect – convening and engaging clients, communities and partners across both the region and the federal government; and,
o Inform – gathering, analyzing and sharing intelligence about southern Ontario, its sectors and its communities.

• FedDev Ontario deploys strategic funding through its flexible, regionally-tailored programs to make targeted investments in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and supporting organizations, strengthening southern Ontario’s innovation ecosystem. These investments help SME’s in strategic sectors compete locally and globally while fostering resilient communities and sustained growth.
o FedDev Ontario provides support through its temporary programs, including:
 the Regional Tariff Response Initiative (RTRI): investing in targeted, time-sensitive activities that boost productivity, lower costs, strengthen supply chain resilience, and open doors to new markets, enhancing overall competitiveness.
 the Regional Defence Investment Initiative (RDII): helping SMEs to integrate into defence supply chains and enhancing industrial and innovation capacity in support of Canada’s defence and security needs.
o The Agency also delivers ongoing national programs to support broad-based economic growth and diverse populations, including the Community Futures Program, and the Economic Development Initiative for Official Language Minority Communities.
• Below is an overview of the permanent and temporary program funding that is currently being delivered by the Agency (G&C amounts, excluding operating funds):

Core Ongoing Programming (A Base) Annual Amount
Core Funding (REGI) $ 153,100,000*
Community Futures $ 11,285,992
Economic Development Initiative $ 800,000
Total $ 165,185,92
*$100,000,000 over 3 years will be redirected to RDII

Temporary Program Funding (B Base) Total Program Envelope Start year End year
Regional Housing Innovation Initiative $ 15,650,000 2024-25 2025-26
Regional Quantum Initiative $ 20,436,720 2022-23 2027-28
Regional Tariff Relief Initiative $ 350,827,983 2025-26 2027-28
Regional Defence Investment Initiative $ 190,250,400 2025-26 2027-28
Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative $ 50,754,750 2025-26 2028-29
Black Entrepreneurship Strategy $ 46,800,000 2025-26 2029-30

• Through delivery of its regionally tailored funding programs, FedDev Ontario invested in:
o A. Berger Precision LTD. - a Brampton-based subsidiary of the Berger Group that specializes in the manufacturing of high precision milled and machined components primarily for the automotive sector. The company is receiving $4.7 million repayable investment to enhance the technical capabilities of its Canadian operations through the adoption of new production technologies and the establishment of a research and development centre. This is expected to enable the company to produce larger and more complex components and further diversify its sectors and customers, while onshoring portions of their operations currently performed overseas, which will create Canadian jobs and make the company more resilient in the current trade environment. FedDev Ontario’s investment has made the company better able to respond quickly to new opportunities.
o FBT Inc. - a St. Catharines-based advanced manufacturer of precision machine components and parts used in critical sectors such as automotive, defence, semi-conductor, and power generation. The company is receiving $3.9 million to adopt new robotic and automated solutions that will create first-of-its-kind processes to increase its machine components and parts production. Through this investment, FBT will create skilled jobs and support domestic manufacturing capacity in southern Ontario.
o Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA) – is leveraging support of $29.3 million to showcase Canadian part suppliers’ capabilities on the global stage through “Project Arrow.” The APMA will be building a fleet of up to six concept vehicles, that will create more opportunities to showcase Canadian part suppliers’ capabilities as Canada looks to connect domestic suppliers into global automotive supply chains in Europe and Asia. The initial concept vehicle’s visibility has led to several companies now reporting new OEM and Tier 1 customers.
o KA Imaging Inc. - a University of Waterloo spin-off company that specializes in the development of innovative X-ray imaging technologies and solutions for medical, industrial veterinary and security markets. It received a $1 million repayable investment to support the commercialization of its patented dual energy subtraction (DES) X-ray detector, the Reveal™, through the acquisition of advanced technologies, and late-stage product development. The company is recognized for its technology being used on the first-ever x-ray taken of an astronaut in space to track impacts of space travel.

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