Premier Kathleen Wynne announced business agreements exceeding $1 billion between Ontario and Chinese organizations.
Yesterday, the Premier met with Xinyi Glass Holdings to discuss their commitment to investing in Ontario. Xinyi has selected Ontario as the location for its first North American manufacturing facility, a large float glass plant. Xinyi's planned $450 million investment, outlined in an agreement in principle signed yesterday between Xinyi and the province, would create 400 jobs in Ontario.
At a signing ceremony in Nanjing today, Ontario and Chinese organizations announced another 32 agreements, which are expected to create more than 700 jobs in Ontario, including:
- Ontario's Ownace International Group signed a $10 million agreement with Shanghai Golden Wing Industrial to open up China's East Territory as a market for their Ontario-grown premium food ingredients
- McMaster University entered into a $5 million agreement with Dajiang Environmental Corporation to collaborate in the research, development and commercialization of smart water technology and related sensor technologies. Dajiang will also set up a subsidiary at McMaster Innovation Park focused on research and technology development
- Ontario signed five new agreements with the province of Jiangsu to fuel innovation, collaboration and economic growth in both regions.
Premier Wynne also met with representatives from Toronto-based Geneseeq, a leading health solutions company that specializes in personalized cancer care. The Premier toured their Chinese headquarters, which opened in 2013, and discussed their plan to expand their Ontario headquarters at MaRS to include a business centre with clinical testing facilities. The $15 million investment will create an estimated 50 high-value jobs in Ontario.
Premier Wynne then met with Lou Qinjian, Party Secretary of Jiangsu, and Wu Zhenglong, Governor of Jiangsu, to discuss Ontario and Jiangsu's successful sister relationship and promote Ontario as an ideal trading partner and collaborator in R&D, technology and education.
Earlier in the day, Premier Wynne visited Nanjing Huiwen School, whose staff have been trained in Ontario, to see first-hand how Ontario's teaching methods are being implemented in Nanjing.
Opening doors for international investment to grow the economy is part of Ontario's plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.
Quick Facts
- In 2015, Ontario celebrated the 30th anniversary of its sister relationship with the province of Jiangsu. Ontario and Jiangsu first formalized their ‘twinning’ relationship in November 1985 with the signing of the Ontario-Jiangsu Friendship Accord in Toronto.
- Nanjing is home to key R&D centres in areas of electronics, IT, software, biotech and pharmaceuticals. Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo all have established R&D institutes in the city.
- For two straight years, Ontario has won Site Selection Magazine's Canadian Competitiveness Award for being the best place in Canada to make a new business investment.
- Follow the Premier’s mission to China and Vietnam on Twitter.
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Premier of Ontario
Minister of International Trade