Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the Standing Committee on International Trade.
Thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to be here today.
My name is Steve Masson. I'm the acting vice-president of policy, partnerships and communications for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, which I will refer to as FedDev Ontario or the agency during my testimony.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that the land on which I join you today is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people, specifically the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan.
FedDev Ontario is one of seven regional development agencies. Our area of focus is southern Ontario. With offices in Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa and Peterborough, the agency provides economic growth programs and services to small and medium-sized enterprises, communities and organizations. Its mandate is to strengthen the capacity for innovation and clean, inclusive economic growth across a region that is a significant driver of Canada's economy, accounting for more than a third of Canada's population, gross domestic product and employment.
Ninety nine per cent of all businesses in Ontario are SMEs, of which there are almost half a million across the province. Ontario also has the largest amount of international trade of all the provinces and territories, valued at $760 billion in 2023, amounting to half of Canada’s international exports and imports of goods and services.
Helping SMEs to scale up, expand to new markets and integrate into global supply chains is key to fuelling economic growth in the region. FedDev Ontario coinvests in projects that help SMEs to develop, commercialize or produce innovative products, processes and services; improve productivity, capacity and competitiveness; and scale up and expand to develop new business opportunities, including diversification into new global markets.
In addition to directly supporting SMEs, we also invest in cluster building projects across our innovation ecosystem that can act as magnets for attracting international talent and investment to the region. We also work with not-for-profit organizations, such as business accelerators and incubators, to provide tailored support to our scaling firms to help them along their growth journey and enter new markets.
In 2022-23, FedDev Ontario invested $154 million in 135 projects through its ongoing programs. These projects helped create and maintain more than 13,000 jobs and facilitated growth opportunities.
Many of these growth-oriented investments have helped SMEs enter new domestic and international markets and reach new customers across a diverse range of sectors, including digital technology, food and beverage manufacturing, and aerospace.
As in other regions of the country, the pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of our supply chains. Through its investments, FedDev Ontario has supported companies to onshore key capabilities and thereby build a more resilient domestic supply chain. In fact, this was a key priority under the jobs and growth fund that we recently delivered.
Southern Ontario's economy is highly integrated in both North American and international supply chains, including in the automotive industry. The region is the second-largest vehicle manufacturing jurisdiction in North America, with more than 1.8 million light-duty vehicles produced annually in eight vehicle assembly plants. As this industry evolves and demand shifts to zero-emission vehicles, southern Ontario's automotive supply chain will be required to adapt and transform to continue to grow.
FedDev Ontario is helping to position the region's SMEs and communities to capitalize on this once-in-a-generation opportunity, with over $83 million invested to date in the companies and communities at the epicentre of this transition. Closely linked to the growth of this sector is the importance of maintaining fluid and efficient trade corridors to move parts back and forth across these globally integrated electric vehicle value chains.
Thank you again for the opportunity to be here to discuss FedDev Ontario's role as it relates to the committee's study of domestic and global supply chains and Canadian businesses in global markets.
I will be happy to answer questions from the committee.