That's correct. I think our commitment to the automotive sector has been very clear. As you mentioned, rightfully, we extended the automotive innovation fund, and then we changed the profile to a grant model. Then we saw recent successes with the $41.8 million invested in the Honda facility, which helped secure jobs there and brought close to half a billion dollars' worth of investments there.
I was proud to be with you at the Ford announcement as well, which was very substantial. It had two components to it, which I think are really important for people to understand. One was, obviously, the jobs at the engine plant, but there is also the R and D facility and a lot of the R and D that's taking place as well.
The objective of the new fund, the strategic investment fund, is to be open to all sectors, but that also means the automotive sector has more money to tap into. If there are better projects that they come forward with, if they have R and D, if they can create jobs, if they can increase their footprint in Canada, if they can invest in building the cars of the future and invest in that kind of technology, our door will always remain open. We're actually very engaged with other automakers right now to look for additional investment opportunities.
I can assure you that we're committed to the automotive sector. It contributes $18 billion to our economy. It employs close to half a million Canadians, both directly and indirectly. We're very focused on getting additional investments. That $1.26-billion strategic investment fund will actually allow the automotive sector additional opportunities if it chooses to pursue them. We're very engaged with the sector.