Ontario eyes manufacturing to lead the comeback
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- May 28, 2020
Click image to enlargeAs the world licks its wounds and begins planning a return to work, the province of Ontario is looking at manufacturing to be its ace in the hole.
“I think when you look at manufacturing and machining, that’s going to play an absolutely critical role,” said Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade.
“We all want to see us building new things here in Ontario, and things we used to build that we let go overseas, we want it all back. We are going to lean heavily on the advanced manufacturing sector to lead us out of where we are and into the wider economy,” he said.
With political and public sentiment aligned in this regard, the real question is what can be done to encourage this manufacturing resurgence, and how can we use it to lead a recovery from the economic drubbing unleashed by COVID-19’s public health measures.
According to Fedeli, it’s not as hard as it seems.
“Red tape and regulation reduction, that’s where we will truly assist the business community,” he says, adding that before the onset of a global pandemic, Ontario was well on its way to reducing the costs and complexities associated with operating here.
“When you think about, for instance, the life sciences sector and pharmaceuticals manufacturing here in Ontario, a lot of it shifted overseas and it was not because it’s a penny or two cheaper to make things in Asia, it was the cost of red tape and regulations that were hurting that business community.”
Fedeli says this regulatory buffet was a main driver in companies choosing to invest elsewhere, reducing Ontario’s share of foreign direct investment and the jobs and product mandates that come with it.