Why is Ontario the most successful province in Canada?
Contracts with the world's largest companies and billion-dollar investments.
Every Canadian province has something to be proud of: Alberta could be called a tourist magnet, so many resorts there are and such serious investments in the tourism industry; Nova Scotia is the fastest growing "green economy" and fights hydrocarbon emissions successfully.
And yet, if you were to choose the one of all the Canadian provinces that becomes the most attractive destination for foreign investment, it would certainly be Ontario. How has the Province of Ontario become a Mecca for foreign investment, who is ready to develop their business in the Canadian province?
Ontario is one of the largest Canadian provinces. Here are located the cities that people around the world have heard about or know well: the nation's capital Ottawa and the major city of Toronto.
A big province requires a lot of money and serious management. For many years now, the most important positions in the province have been held by the very enterprising and active Ford family. Doug Ford was a member of the provincial legislature. His two sons also managed to display their father's political zeal and became politicians. Eldest son Robert was a mayor of Toronto from 2010-2014, and his brother, Doug Ford Jr. has been premier of Ontario since 2018.
Doug Ford's government takes the province's challenges seriously: green industries, lack of jobs, the need to invest in schools and universities, and helping other provinces that are struggling with natural disasters and domestic problems.
Ford & Ontario
In early April, America's giant company Ford announced a joint project with the province of Ontario. Ford executives said they will invest CAD 1.8 billion (about USD 1.3 billion) in their Oakville plant to turn it into a new electric car manufacturing hub.
The company expects next-generation electric cars to hit the market around the mid decade, and the conversion should take six months. The factory will use cells from the battery plant currently is under construction in Kentucky.
This money is one of the largest foreign investments in the history of the province. The main thing Ontario's leadership insisted on was keeping jobs for Canadian workers. When the news broke in the press in early April, that was one of the things reporters were so interested in too. The American company assured that Canadians would keep their jobs.
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The Ford-Ontario alliance is a proof of a mutually beneficial partnership between U.S. businesses and Canadian politicians. Both countries are striving to achieve the joint goal of the G7 countries to become carbon neutral by 2050, if not sooner and creating a plant that produces electric cars brings them both closer to that goal.
Volkswagen & Ontario
Ontario attracts not only its neighbors, with whom it has long and established relationships. Another automobile manufacturing monster, which has assembled a dozen famous brands under its rule, has signed a contract with the province.
Volkswagen will build a battery factory in Ontario. They, like Ford, have big plans for cooperation with the province. The Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry said that "this is the largest investment in the automotive sector in Canadian history."
The amount of investment is CAD 7 billion.
It will be the largest production facility for Volkswagen in all of North America. The plant will employ about 3 000 people, but already now provincial representatives say that they will probably create about 1 000 more job positions.
German executives plan to produce up to 1 million cars a year. The plant's capacity should be enough to meet these ambitious joint goals, because Volkswagen wants to create 25 new models of electric cars in the coming decades. The main battery supplier is the Ontario plant.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford praised the deal and said it was important to put aside any political difficulties to attract investment to the province.
General Motors & Ontario
A new twist in the province's cooperation with major companies has been an additional investment by General Motors in the Oshawa truck plant.
On June 6, 2023, an additional investment was announced: CAD 280 million. And then, in 2020, the initial investment was CAD 1.2 billion. General Motors reiterated its commitment to US-Canadian cooperation with this step.
The 2020 plant created 2,600 new jobs and about 1,000 more. 50% of the new employees are women.
"We are pleased to announce additional investment for our Oshawa plant to support the production of the next generation of full-size pickups. Today, we are proud to say that we will continue to produce pickups in Oshawa for years to come," said Marissa West, president and managing director of GM Canada.
Perspectives
Ontario's active collaboration with companies all over the world, from the United States to Germany, inspires a sense of serious future success. And while today Ontario is still struggling with crime, immigration screening and school safety, the provincial government knows ahead of time what direction it is taking for the future.
