Mississauga Moving On Up

Mississauga is often referred to as one of Toronto's bedroom communities, but the 29-year-old city is well on its way to an identity of its own. In fact, latest population figures push this young municipality past Winnipeg as Canada's sixth-largest city, with 630,000 people. No doubt benefiting from synergies derived from its larger neighbor to the east, Mississauga has been doing quite nicely in attracting investment.
        As Hazel McCallion, Mississauga's energetic, 25-year, 80-year-old mayor, is oft-quoted as saying, "We'll do cartwheels to make things happen."
        Helping make things happen is the city's transportation infrastructure, which includes major superhighways and the country's largest airport, Lester B. Pearson International.
        Ease of travel is crucial to the fortunes of Stuart Energy, a pioneer in the burgeoning "hydrogen economy." In its move from Toronto to Mississauga, Stuart, a developer and supplier of hydrogen energy infrastructure, gained Pearson International as a neighbor.

Hazel McCallion, Mayor of Mississauga, Ont.

        "We do a lot of traveling because most of our customers are in other parts of the world," says Wanda Cutler, Stuart spokeswoman, who adds that the airport is a short $5 taxi ride away, allowing employees to park in the company's parking lot while traveling by air.

Other Investment Across Ontario Here's a look at some more recent new projects or expansions in other regions of Ontario:         • Smurfit-MBI, a manufacturer of paperboard, corrugated containers, paper bags and recycled paper products, is building a $44.3-million corrugated container plant in Milton.         • Outsourcing firm Arvato Services opened a customer contact center in Kitchener, initially employing 150.         • DaimlerChrysler plans to invest $1 billion to modernize its Brampton assembly plant to produce the next generation of Dodge Magnum and Chrysler 300.         • Shell Canada is spending CAN$75 million to modernize its Sarnia refinery.

        Stuart moved to a 125,000-sq.-ft. (11,612-sq.-m.) facility in late 2001 and employs 160. Ry Smith, Stuart's director of business development, says the site puts the company in the midst of a budding cluster of hydrogen-related companies. That's essential for a company that is knee-deep in developing hydrogen energy generation products for corporations. Hoping to eventually bring its process of creating hydrogen power from water to the consumer, Stuart recently unveiled its prototype personal energy station (PES), capable of providing hydrogen fuel for vehicles as well as back-up or supplementary power for a home.
        "It's critical to us to have a city that's focused on partnering," Smith says. "We have a bit of a center of excellence developing in this region in hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell technology. The University of Toronto has done a lot of research with us and they're also a good source of labor."
        Stuart's innovations came in handy during the Aug. 14­15 power blackout of Ontario and the northeastern U.S.: the company was without power for a mere eight seconds as it segued its critical systems onto its water electrolysis system.
        Other companies recently selecting Mississauga for projects also include:
        Blackhawk Automotive Plastic Inc., a supplier of plastic injection molding products to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers in the automotive industry, is building a 288,200-sq.-ft. (26,774-sq.-m.) facility that will employ 500 to 600.
        Pharmaceutical firm Biovail opened its 40,000-sq.-ft. (3,716-sq.-m.) headquarters in June.