STRATFORD – A group of about 25 municipal and business leaders met with the provincial minister of economic development and innovation in a hastily called meeting in Stratford to discuss a plan that would see $20 million invested into regional growth last week.
Minister Brad Duguid worked the meeting into a trip to London to talk about the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund and its enabling legislation, Bill 11, wrote the Southwest Ontario Economic Alliance, in a press release.
During the one-hour meeting, the minister took questions and explained how the legislation was winding its way through committee and the legislature. Bill 11 has passed second reading and is currently being studied by the all-party Standing Committee on General Government. The committee has already held public hearings and is scheduled to give line-by-line consideration at a meeting scheduled for tomorrow, April 17.
SWEA made a presentation to the standing committee on April 2 at Queen’s Park.
SWEA’s proposals in brief:
- Direct job creation should be the primary focus of the SWODF;
- Funds earmarked for businesses should be divided 80 per cent to loans and 20 per cent to grants;
- Loans should be offered and managed through the existing commercial lending sector to leverage additional funds and reduce program overhead costs;
- Grants should range from $25,000 to $50,000, with recipients matching the grants 2-1;
- Loans should be $50,000 or more; and
- Both grants and loans should have a stated minimum job creation goal of at least 3 full-time equivalent jobs.
Presenters included SWEA Chair Dan Mathieson, President Serge Lavoie and Libro Financial Group Corporate Secretary Harry Joosten. Joosten has worked with SWEA to develop a model for the SWODF that includes a commercial lending component.
The minister said he was optimistic the legislation would pass the legislature, although he wasn’t sure what changes or restrictions might be put in place by the committee before the bill returns for its final vote. He also said his ministry was poised to have the program up and running this spring.
John Grace, who is Goderich’s deputy mayor and a SWEA board member, reminded the minister how important it was to ensure a good rural/urban balance in access to the fund. He suggested the SWEA proposed model did a good job of doing that by focusing on job creation and private sector leveraging.
SWEA has been active in advocating for the fund with all parties and MPPs in the legislature.
The boundaries for Southwestern Ontario, with a population of 3.5 million, stretches from the Bruce Peninsula to Windsor, Lake Huron shoreline to Barrie and the Niagara Peninsula. However, specific boundaries within the proposed fund have not been established.
