Ontario: Why Business is Booming -- Site Selection magazine, November 2000

ONTARIO, Why Business
is Booming (cover)

Ontario's High-Tech
Labor Pool

Power Industry
Poised for Growth

A Thriving R&D Environment

Technology Corridors Spur Economic Growth

IT Jobs Surge in
Ottawa Region

The Greater Toronto Area

City of Toronto

GTA North

GTA West

GTA East

Call Centers Flourish

Manufacturing Update

Cornwall and Kingston

The Automotive Industry

Automotive Expansions
in Windsor

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A Thriving R&D Environment

Ontario houses over 43 percent of Canada's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, including such powerhouses as AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GlaxoWellcome and Pasteur MÈrieux Connaught, many of which have expanded their R&D and production facilities through the years.

Though the Ontario government does not offer specific financial incentives -- grants or loans to businesses for relocations or expansions, for example -- Mitsopulos reports that after-tax costs of R&D is lower in Ontario than in the USA.

Sleeman Breweries recently completed an expansion that doubled the capacity of its Guelph, Ont., facility.

There are also funding programs for specific R&D initiatives that are available if criteria are met. This year, the Government earmarked an additional C$500 million for the Ontario Innovation Trust, created in 1999 to match funds up to 40 percent of the cost of high-tech equipment and other infrastructure in universities, hospitals and research institutes. Moreover, an additional C$50 million will go to the Ontario R&D Challenge Fund, created in 1997 to mete out C$500 million over 10 years to match funds for research and R&D-Business partnerships.

For those in the province, and the City of Toronto in particular, specializing in the development of new media, news that the Ontario Interactive Digital Media (DM) Tax Credit was extended was good to hear. A 20 percent refundable credit for businesses that create original DM products in Ontario, the credit now includes up to C$100,000 for marketing and distribution expenses for eligible products.

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