Helping All Regions Prosper: PM Announces New Development Agency for Southern Ontario

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

It's great to be back in the tri-cities area.

I was last here at the beginning of the summer when I gave a progress report on the rapid implementation of Canada's Economic Action Plan, our measures to counteract the global recession.

We are still just four months into the fiscal year, but already some 3,000 separate infrastructure projects are underway, creating jobs and stimulating economic activity from coast to coast to coast.

From the construction of a new powerhouse at the Mayo hydro-electric generating station in Yukon, to the expansion of the transit system in the Greater Toronto Area, to upgrades to the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, this has been an unprecedented construction season right across Canada.

Underlying each of these projects are two objectives.

The first is to provide short-term financial stimulus to create jobs and generate economic activity.

The second is to invest that stimulus in lasting infrastructure that will strengthen our economy over the long term.

Infrastructure like Highway 8, the ribbon of pavement that ties the communities of Goderich, Stratford, Cambridge, Hamilton and, of course, Kitchener, together.

Recognizing this highway's importance to the region, our Government announced in June that we would partner with the province to complete the final phase of the Highway 8 expansion.

Construction, as Harold, Gary, and I, saw this morning, is already underway.

Involving extensive upgrades from the Grand River to Highway 401, this expansion will create jobs and opportunities for local workers and suppliers, and, when complete, reduce local traffic congestion, making driving in the region easier, safer and faster.This project is just one example of our Government's commitment to the economic future of this region.

But improving physical infrastructure is just one part of our plan.

If we are to truly succeed in the long term, we must also strengthen the country's knowledge infrastructure.

We must invest in new technologies.

We must prepare Canadians for the jobs of tomorrow.

And today's announcement, ladies and gentlemen, will help do just that.

As you know, Southern Ontario's manufacturing sector has been hit especially hard by the global recession.

But many of the challenges facing this sector pre-date the world downturn.

For years now, Ontario manufacturers have been coping with tougher overseas competition, volatile exchange rates, increasing production and transportation costs and rising foreign protectionism.

They have held up remarkably well under the circumstances.

Ontario manufacturers – and their highly skilled and motivated workers – have proven their ability to adapt to changing international markets for over a century.

But those changes, accelerated by the phenomenal pace of technological advancement, are now occurring faster and more dramatically than ever before.

As I noted in the last election, in Canada, when virtually all other parts of the country have faced similar challenges, we have developed regional strategies to support them.

This legacy of interdependence is represented by federal regional economic development organizations like the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Canada Economic Development Agency for Quebec Regions, Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Federal Economic Development Initiative of Northern Ontario.

As the industrial hub of our national country, Southern Ontario should be similarly served.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to formally announce the creation of the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, or, as it will be known by its short title, Fed-Dev Ontario.

I am also pleased to announce that the Minister responsible for this new agency will be the Minister of State for Science and Technology, the Member for Cambridge, the Honourable Gary Goodyear.

Fed-Dev Ontario will coordinate federal programming to support economic development, innovation and diversification throughout the regions of Southern Ontario.

In doing so, this new agency will help Southern Ontario's communities, workers and businesses position themselves to take advantage of exciting, new economic opportunities when the recovery eventually and inevitably takes hold.

As Winston Churchill once noted, "Difficulties mastered are opportunities won."

Faced with the greatest global economic crisis since the Second World War, Canadians have undoubtedly been facing some difficult times.

But with our characteristic resolve and ingenuity, we are dealing with the present with an eye to the future.

We are surmounting the challenges we face today by investing in the physical and knowledge infrastructure needed for greater prosperity tomorrow.

The timely creation of Fed-Dev Ontario demonstrates our ongoing commitment to this part of our great country, and our determination to see Canada emerge from this global economic recession stronger than ever.

Thank you.

All News