Paulette Peirol, Municipality of Brockton

EDCO extends our condolences to Paulette's family, friends, and colleagues. Paulette was Economic Development Coordinator with Municipality of Brockton for over five years and had many years in the industry. Paulette will be truly missed.

Paulette Peirol obituary

Last week held EDCO's CollaboratiON: Building Ontario Together Conference and Showcase. What a successful event it was! Our thanks go out to everyone involved in planning this event; all of our sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and not to mention our Conference Planning Committee and Event Planning Staff who out did themselves.

CollaboratiON brought new and relevant sessions, outstanding Keynote Speaker Shawn Kanungo, a Fireside Chat with The Honourable V. Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, delicious and unique Feast ON reception, closing plenary show with the incredible Choir! Choir! Choir! and much more.

Our President's Dinner closed out the week with our Awards Ceremony. We were pleased to welcome Honourable Lisa Thompson who presented our Rural Excellence Award and the Honourable Edith Dumont, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario who presented EDCO's Lieutenant Governor's Award. 

We couldn't have done it without all of YOU! We had a record breaking number of attendees to make this the biggest EDCO Conference to date. THANK YOU! Stay tuned for highlights, photos/videos and more to come.

See you in 2025!

2023 EDCO Awards of Excellence Winners!



The EDCO Awards of Excellence is an annual program coordinated through the EDCO Awards Committee and aims to seek distinctive ideas and initiatives that can become economic development best practices of the future.

Award Winners were announced live at the President's Dinner last week at EDCO Conference and Showcase. If you missed it, you can view the winner list below.

Thank you again to all applicants and congratulations to this year's Winners and Honourable Mentions! We are proud to celebrate your leadership in the profession as you continue to elevate economic development practices in Ontario. 

Environics Analytics and EDCO have partnered again to bring a special offer to our members. Do you endeavour to make strategic decisions that are data driven but lack the budget needed to access the data?

EDCO MEMBER SPECIAL PRICING DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MARCH 31st, 2024!

Get to know your communities in more detail using the Spotlight platform from Environics Analytics. Granular, detailed data about your local populations can be brought to life with simple-to-read, updated dashboards, and powerful insights that give you so much more clarity about your jurisdictions. Webinars and showcases were held throughout the fall.

This offer’s objective is an attempt to make data accessible to Ontario’s smaller municipalities about their populations and their expenditure and lifestyle attributes. The aim is to arm Ontario’s smaller municipalities with access to this data to:

• Help inform strategic plans and Master Plans
• Provide insights into local populations to help with communications, engagement and service delivery
• Develop a deeper sense of understanding of local populations to help decision-makers better anticipate jurisdictional needs and provide services and programs that are more relevant and valuable

This special offer democratizes data and makes this platform available for up to 90% off the regular price.

More details and information on Spotlight Platform here

Email us at laura.demille@edco.on.ca if interested.

EDCO Insider allows individual communities to easily and cost-effectively create their own customized apps and build incentives for people to visit places of interest or make purchases locally.

Take advantage of this service powered by 468 Communications, and drive economic development by rewarding people for exploring your community!

Government of Canada announces

$15 million for My Main Street Program

This afternoon in Unionville, My Main Street joined the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister responsible for FedDevOntario to announce a $15-million investment for the Canadian Urban Institute to continue the My Main Street program in 2024

The investment supports the stabilization and revitalization of main streets and neighbourhoods that continue to attract people to southern Ontario’s communities. Since 2022, My Main Street has provided direct-to-business and community support on southern Ontario’s main streets, recognizing their vital role in Canada’s culture and economic prosperity. 

My Main Street will once again include the Community Activator stream, supporting 75 communities' high-impact placemaking projects that seek to revitalize neighborhoods and reimagine public spaces including main streets, downtown strips and plazas as vibrant and inclusive places that work for everyone.

The investment will include a new program stream entitled the Business Sustainability Program. This stream will provide non-repayable contributions up to $20,000 in direct-to-business funding to support productivity enhancements for up to 325 brick-and-mortar businesses located on main streets across southern Ontario. 

The programs will launch on February 15, 2024.

“Today’s announcement from the federal government will provide needed supports directly to small businesses and the communities they operate in. The continued investment in My Main Street recognizes the importance of main streets as crucial to the economic resilience of towns and cities across southern Ontario.” — Mary W. Rowe, President and CEO, Canadian Urban Institute

Read the full release here.

As announced by Minister Lisa Thompson at ROMA, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is hosting a Rural Economic Development Summit on Thursday, February 29.

Please hold that afternoon to join the virtual consultation. A formal invitation with more details will follow.

Ontario Protecting People from the High Costs of a Provincial Carbon Tax

MISSISSAUGA — The Ontario government is keeping costs down for people by introducing legislation that, if passed, would give Ontario voters a direct say over a new provincial carbon tax, cap-and-trade system or other carbon pricing program. This proposed legislation would protect people and businesses from the high cost of a provincial carbon tax by requiring the government to first obtain the consent of Ontario voters through a referendum before implementing a new provincial carbon pricing program.

Read more here.

Ontario Empowering More Black Youth and Young Professionals

TORONTO — The Ontario government is investing an additional $16.5 million in the Black Youth Action Plan (BYAP) to continue supporting more than 20 community-based and culturally focused organizations with a proven track record of empowering Black children and families. The funding, through the BYAP's Economic Empowerment stream, will help Black youth and young professionals develop skills to help launch their careers in high-demand sectors such as the skilled trades, information technology, automotive, health, film and the arts.

Read more here.

February 13 - 14, 2024 - Introduction to Entrepreneurship-Led Economic Development

February 27 - 28, 2024 - Accelerating Growth Through Entrepreneurship-Led Economic Development

March 7- 8, 2024 - Entrepreneurial & Small Business Development Strategies

March 26-27, 2024 - Technology-Led Economic Development

March 28-29, 2024 - Neighborhood Development Strategies

April 17- 19, 2024 - Economic Development Finance Programs

April 29 - 30, 2024 - Economic Development Marketing & Attraction