Ontario Premier Doug Ford told stakeholders from Ontario’s municipal sector recently that the province is well positioned to continue to attract significant foreign investments in megaprojects, building on EV, battery, life sciences and other large projects announced since he took office six years ago.
During his address to members of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario at their annual general meeting in Ottawa Aug. 19, the premier announced a new online portal the government has developed to help local and international investors better connect with municipalities.
Municipalities will be able to upload information about commercial and industrial properties in their communities and provide companies with information supporting investment, including demographic trends, market analysis and First Nations treaty areas.
“It’s going to be a powerful resource to help local governments and communities attract investments and jobs,” said Ford. “I’ll tell you, this one’s slick. It’s going to work really, really well.”
Ford went off his speaking notes a number of times as he gave examples of how Ontario highlights its clean energy, expanding infrastructure, a growing roster of megaprojects and spiking population growth to potential investors.
You just talk to people around the world, we are the envy of the world. We have every single thing we need to succeed
— Doug Ford
Ontario Premier
Fedeli’s long list
“I had an opportunity to talk to (Industry) Minister Vic Fideli, and when he sits down and he runs through the list, it’s literally multibillion-dollar investments coming to look for a home in one of your municipalities,” said Ford, gesturing to an imagined thigh-high stack of proposals.
“This portal is really going to help.”
In recent years, Ford said, Ontario’s economy has attracted tens of millions of dollars in the tech sector, which is currently growing at a pace 365-per-cent faster than Silicon Valley.
“A lot of the mayors have opportunities to be meet people around the world, and especially our neighbours to the south, governors, and we had nine U.S. senators from southern states come by, and we brought them up to Darlington showing them the small modular reactors. And I can tell you, talking to them, a really, really good chat, they’re just in awe.”
Ontario is attracting immigrants and foreign investors, said Ford, because they want to participate in the growing economy. The province has added 800,000 jobs since Ford’s Progressive Conservatives came into office in 2018, including 160,000 new jobs added since the beginning of this year.
“Again, if it wasn’t for the municipalities opening their arms and saying, ‘Here, come to my municipality,’ municipalities competing against each other, which I absolutely love, this wouldn’t happen,” Ford said.
While $4 billion in investments have been made in the life sciences sector, Ford said, Canada’s slow pace approving drugs threatens that sector. It takes 750 days for the federal government to approve new drugs versus a fraction of that in other jurisdictions, he said, suggesting Canada has to “pick up our socks.”
As for the automotive sector, Ford said, when he took office, auto plants in Windsor, Brampton and Oshawa looked to be closing with Mexico frequently cited as the new destination for investors.
“The reason six years ago they were chased out of our province was sky-high energy prices, an uncompetitive business environment forced plants to close and take 300,000 jobs south of the border,” he said. “What a difference a few years in a pro-worker, pro-business government makes.
“Over the past four years, we’ve welcomed new battery plants in Alliston, in St. Thomas, with major investments across the electric vehicle supply chain in Brampton, Brantford, Port Colborne, Windsor and Napanee, just to name a few.”
Cheers for highways
Clean energy, low taxes and major public infrastructure spending on transit, roads, hospitals, schools and more are other reasons the province is attracting new project investment, Ford said.
“I told our neighbours to the south, we’re spending $200 billion on infrastructure. They’re shocked. They can’t believe it,” he said.
Ford listed major highway projects underway across the province, eliciting occasional cheers from delegates when local spending was mentioned.
Housing remains a major issue, but programs and new funds such as the Building Faster Fund, Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program will be a “game-changer,” Ford said.
“You just talk to people around the world, we are the envy of the world,” said Ford. “We have every single thing we need to succeed.”
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