THUNDER BAY -- The federal minister responsible for FedNor, the economic development organization for northern Ontario, says the government's growth strategy for the region will focus on innovation.
Navdeep Bains, minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, travelled to Thunder Bay on Monday to discuss details of what Ottawa has dubbed the Prosperity and Growth Strategy for Northern Ontario (PGSNO).
Bains first announced a year ago that each of Canada's six Regional Development Agencies would prepare a growth strategy which the government has said is aimed at "seizing business and job growth opportunities created by the innovation economy."
At a news conference Monday where he was accompanied by Patty Hajdu, the minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, he said the plan for northern Ontario concentrates on three key areas:
- Supporting innovation - by expanding and strengthening the regional innovation ecosystem and providing support for incubators, accelerators and clusters;
- Growing companies - by enhancing supports for business start-ups and scale-ups, promoting the adoption of advanced technologies, and increasing the capacity of companies to export; and
- Building stronger communities - by helping municipalities and Indigenous communities better respond to economic development opportunities and challenges.
Bains said the plan was developed following consultations with 1,000 people including Indigenous, municipal and provincial leaders, as well as innovation and business stakeholders from around the north.
"This nationally coordinated, regionally tailored strategy will help ensure that Northern Ontario can fully benefit from our national innovation and skills plan in a way that makes sense to local communities, businesses" and residents, Bains said.
Ontario's minister of Northern Development and Mines, Michael Gravelle, welcomed the announcement and said the province is especially pleased that the federal government "is recognizing the multi-generational mineral development potential" in the Ring of Fire, and looks forward to advancing that project together.
Mary Long-Irwin, executive-director of Northern Ontario Angels, said having a coordinated economic development strategy involving governments, communities, and entrepreneurs "will help nurture innovative ideas, create jobs and attract highly skilled people" to the region.
According to a fact sheet supplied by the federal government, its 2018 budget includes an additional $28 million over five years for FedNor to support the national Innovation and Skills Plan, on top of the $25 million over five years it received in the 2017 budget.
