The Ontario Made program is being run by Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), an Ottawa-based industry group, and includes an Ontario Made logo that Ontario manufacturers can place on their products, according to a July 10 government news release.
The new initiative will also involve a digital newsletter and a new website, SupportOntarioMade.ca, to help connect consumers and supply chain partners to manufacturers of made-in-Ontario products.
Provincial funding for the program is coming from the $50-million Ontario Together fund, which was created by the government of Premier Doug Ford in April to help businesses retool their operations or deliver innovative solutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Promoting locally made products will be essential to building a strong, self-sufficient province and key to our economic recovery,” Ford said in the news release.
CME president and CEO Dennis Darby said the program comes at a time when consumers increasingly want to buy local.
“We want to encourage Ontario manufacturers to proudly wave the flag by labelling their products and buying local, where possible,” Darby was quoted as saying in the release. “Ontario Made will help raise awareness of what is manufactured right here by our neighbours, friends and families and support local manufacturing.”
In a separate, July 12 news release, the Innovation Economy Council, a coalition of Ontario tech sector incubators, announced a white paper examining the impact of advanced manufacturing on the province’s economy.
The report notes that manufacturing still accounts for 10 per cent of jobs in Ontario, despite the nearly 250,000 jobs lost in manufacturing following the 2008 recession.
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