May 27, 2019 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
Provincial and municipal economic development organizations and local businesses play a key role in attracting foreign direct investment, strengthening Canada's economy and creating jobs. Small and medium-sized enterprises also benefit from opening new international markets and expanding existing ones, providing access to new customers and creating new jobs.
Today, Omar Alghabra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister International Trade Diversification, was in the Toronto Region to highlight the $100 million investment in the CanExport funding programs. CanExport helps Canadian communities attract, retain, and expand foreign investments, while also supporting local entrepreneurs looking to develop and access new export opportunities.
Parliamentary Secretary Alghabra met with Toronto Global, an investment promotion agency for 24 municipalities in the Toronto Region, which has received CanExport - Community Investments funding in support of its goal to attract job-creating foreign companies. Companies invest not just in countries, but in projects and in communities as well, so coordinating with partners like Toronto Global is essential to Canada's shared success in attracting foreign direct investment. Since its launch in 2017, Toronto Global has received $1 million in CanExport - Community Investments funding.
The CanExport expansion is a key component of New Markets, New Customers, New Jobs: Canada's Trade Diversification Strategy, an investment of $1.1 billion over six years to help Canadian companies and communities succeed. This effort capitalizes on Canada's new agreements with more than fifty countries, which provide Canadian businesses with preferential access to 1.5 billion customers. With these investments, the government continues to make Canada the most well-connected trading economy worldwide, while creating more jobs at home.
"Helping businesses in the Toronto Region and across Canada to compete and succeed in international markets is vital to the Canadian economy. By pursuing trade diversification and continuing to invest in local communities, we continue to promote Canada as a place of business that is open to the world and attractive to foreign investors."
-Omar Alghabra, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade Diversification
"We are very grateful to receive continued financial support from the federal government through the CanExport program. This program supplements our foreign investment attraction activities in both domestic and international markets, and allows us to market the Toronto Region's remarkable qualities and advantages to global businesses. We deeply value our partnership with Global Affairs Canada and appreciate the progress we've made due, in part, to support from the CanExport program."
-Toby Lennox, Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Global
Quick facts
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The 2018 Fall Economic Statement invests $100 million over six years to reinforce the CanExport program and related funding programs so that more Canadian businesses can explore new overseas markets, especially high-growth emerging markets and markets benefiting from free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
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Since 2016, the CanExport - Community Investments program has funded 148 organizations across Canada with more than $16 million in support of foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, retention and expansion.
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To date, the CanExport - SMEs program has supported more than 1,200 Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises with 1,600 projects to expand their markets and increase export activities in more than 110 markets around the world.
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The 2018 Fall Economic Statement announced investments of $290 million over five years to strengthen the Trade Commissioner Service and enhance the support it provides to Canadian exporters.
