Question Period Note: RESPONSIVE MESSAGES

How is the Government creating opportunities for economic growth in southern Ontario?

• Southern Ontario is a vital and dynamic region of Canada and a key contributor to our nation’s economy.
• The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario’s (FedDev Ontario) mandate is to strengthen southern Ontario’s capacity for innovation, economic development and growth. The Government has made a long-term investment in in FedDev Ontario, making it a reliable dedicated resource for the region.
• FedDev Ontario’s client-centered programming helps southern Ontario’s entrepreneurs succeed and grow, strengthens the region’s innovation ecosystem, and helps develop and diversify its communities.
The Agency’s results can be seen in southern Ontario businesses that are creating jobs and innovative technologies, improving their productivity, growing their revenues, and in the economic advancement of communities across the region.
• Since November 2015, FedDev Ontario has committed $950 million to support over 900 projects with southern Ontario businesses and organizations. These investments are benefiting over 9,750 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and supporting the creation or maintenance of over 62,000 jobs.

Project Examples
• Last April, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an investment of over $50 million to bring together three top innovation hubs ─ Communitech in Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto's MaRS Discovery District and Invest Ottawa. Together, they will implement a first-of-its-kind Scale-Up Platform in Canada to help high-potential companies scale up. This Platform will help 30 Ontario companies scale up and achieve revenues of $100 million or more by 2024, as well as provide services to thousands of others.
• FedDev Ontario is investing up to $15 million in Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, an accelerator based in Sarnia that is focused on enabling Ontario and Canada to become global leaders in converting renewable resources (e.g., biomaterials) for use in a wide range of commercial applications. The project is expected to create and maintain 700 highly skilled jobs, support 75 businesses, and leverage over $37 million in private investment.

With a 2019-20 budget of nearly $261.5 million, FedDev Ontario helps businesses develop, scale and grow, enables communities to harness regional advantages to grow their economies, and encourages collaboration and innovation in southern Ontario.
Along with the other RDAs, FedDev Ontario delivers a nationally coordinated, regionally tailored program designed to foster an entrepreneurial environment conducive to innovation, growth and competitiveness. This focuses on two main programming streams: Business Scale-Up and Productivity, and Regional Innovation Ecosystem. FedDev Ontario also supports a third programming stream – Community Economic Development and Diversification.

In 2018-19, a Statistics Canada study found that the Agency’s direct business recipients have outperformed similar businesses in terms of employment growth (+19%), revenue growth (+15%) and productivity growth (+4%).

For every dollar invested by FedDev Ontario, approximately $2 is leveraged in additional investment. For direct to business projects, the leverage ratio is even higher, at around $4 for every $1 invested by FedDev Ontario.

In addition, FedDev Ontario delivers national programming targeting official-language minority communities, women entrepreneurship, tourism and the steel and aluminum sector. For example, in 2019, FedDev invested almost $15 million through the national Canadian Experiences Fund to support local economies and the region’s tourism sector.

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