5:00pm to 6:00pm, Wednesday, February 5, 2025 Westin Harbour Castle, 1 Harbour Square, Toronto
SAVE THE DATE!
Ontario East Economic Development Commission Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held in Toronto during the EDCO Annual Conference in the Yonge Room, at the Westin Harbour Castle on Wednesday, February 5th at 5:00 pm.
Mark your calendars and join us for an update on Ontario East activities, financials and to welcome the new directors to the board.
This event is free and open to all members of the Ontario East Economic Development Commission.
Registration details for the AGM will be available early in the New Year.
Agricultural Updates to the Provincial Planning Statement (PPS)
10:00am to 11:30:00am, Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Webinar
Join the Ontario Federation of Agriculture on January 28th where the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) Land Use Policy staff will talk about key changes to agricultural related policies in the updated Provincial Planning Statement (PPS), including highlighting the province-wide Agricultural Systems approach.
If you have any news that you would like us to share, please forward to info@ontarioeast.ca.
Ontario East December 6th Quarterly Meeting Update
The Ontario East Economic Development Commission welcomed over 40 people to our most recent Quarterly Networking Meeting in Kingston at the Donald Gordon Hotel and Conference Centre at Queen's University.
We heard from Ecostrat on the BDO Zone Initiative, Alysha Dominico on Ontario East Workforce Partners Support Project, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada's Global Skills Strategy, Ontario Centres of Innovation Critical Industrial Technologies Program and we had an update on Ontario East's 2025-2027 Foreign Direct Investment Strategy from ResearchFDI and we spent a great deal of time networking!
Thank you to all of our speakers and participants for making the gathering such a great success.
Our next event will be the Annual General Meeting in Toronto on February 5 during the EDCO Conference. We hope to see you there!
New Ontario East Directors to be Appointed at
Annual General Meeting
The Ontario East Economic Development Commission is pleased to advise that the following Members will be recommended for appointment to the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held on Wednesday, February 5, 2025 (5:00 pm) at the Westin Harbour Castle, Yonge Room, 1 Harbour Square, Toronto. (Registration details will be available early in the New Year).
The nominees include three (3) Active Members, and two (2) Associate Members as follows to be approved by the Voting Members:
Vicki Bristow-Ferguson, Quinte Economic Development Commission, Active
Ben McIlquham, Kingston Economic Development, Active
Derrick Morgan, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Associate
Directors Bob Peters, Abdul Razak Jendi and Chris King will retire from the Board at the AGM and we thank them for their contributions.
We look forward to having this group of experienced professionals join the Board in 2025!
Ontario East Launches New Website
During the Quarterly Networking Meeting in Kingston, the Ontario East Economic Development Commission officially launched our new website to promote the region.
The site has been optimized to enhance information, the Ontario East brand and opportunities for investors.
Please visit the website to check it out and click on this link for the detailed overview on improvements from Trevor Trewartha and his team at 1dea (who did an amazing job for us!) for more details and information.
Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative in southern Ontario
Strengthening AI innovation and adoption in Canada
The Government of Canada is making strategic investments to provide businesses with the tools they need to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) to develop new technologies and processes in sectors from coast to coast to coast.
Canada's regional development agencies (RDAs) are delivering $200 million through the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative (RAII) to help bring new AI technologies to market and speed up AI adoption in sectors across the country.
Through RAII, RDAs will support projects that help businesses turn their ideas into real-world solutions for Canadians and compete globally.
In southern Ontario, FedDev Ontario is accepting applications to RAII under two pillars from October 22, 2024, to December 20, 2024, 4:59 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Ontario Labour Force Management Strategies Initiative
Learn how primary producers and processors can get money to address local labour force challenges in the agri-food sector.
Intake opens: October 22, 2024
Deadline: September 2, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.
The Labour Force Management Strategies Initiative (the Initiative) helps primary producers and processors address local labour force challenges in the agri-food sector with pilot projects that implement:
innovative attraction strategies
recruitment strategies
retention strategies
Funding for the Initiative comes from the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year (2023 to 2028) investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments. Up to $4 million has been allocated for the Initiative.
WMCO Digital Transformation Funding - Round 3 Begins!
WMCO has been successful in securing funding for WMCO to help wood manufacturing members in Ontario make digital integration investments. The available funding is the result of a Government of Canada investment, through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).
This is a 2.5-year project that will fund 50 companies to support their digital integration projects. The first and second round are now closed.
We are currently receiving completed project plans from members for expenditures starting April 1, 2025- Feb 28, 2026.
Funding availability for this round is limited to 19 projects based on eligible expenses up to $100,000 @ 45% funding ($45,000 funded maximum) and 3 projects based on eligible expenses up to $50,000 @ 45% ($22,500 funded maximum). Eligible-not funded and ineligible expenses need to be included to capture full project investment by industry.
NOTE: PLANS ARE ACCEPTED ON A FIRST COME-FIRST SERVED BASIS.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION FOR THIS UPCOMING ROUND IS MARCH 17, 2025.
To access the document with the project plan template and the list of qualifying factors, CLICK HERE.
