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Canadian Trade Commissioner Service - Ontario

Sector Snapshots

Aerospace and Defence

Ontario is home to over 350 aerospace and defence firms, primarily focused on aerospace parts and systems with annual sales of almost $6.5 Billions CDN. Capabilities range from design, to manufacturing and product support for the global industry.  In the defence sector, synergies between defence, public safety and commercial safety are creating new business opportunities in both commercial and military applications.

Ontario-based firms have a reputation for developing innovative products and services such as:

As world leaders in major programs and platforms as well as niche markets, Ontario firms are suppliers to:

Automotive

Ontario is an established leader in the North American automotive sector and the largest sub-national vehicle assembly jurisdiction since 2004.  The province typically accounts for about one sixth of North American production in recent years with an average annual contribution to Ontario’s Gross Domestic Product of more than $20 billion and over 4 % of provincial GDP. Despite the turmoil in the automotive industry since 2008, the automotive sector is still important to Ontario’s economy. Five of the world’s top automotive producers have 12 plants in Ontario as well as 2 heavy truck producers. The industry, concentrated along a 260-mile corridor that stretches from Windsor to Oshawa, employs approximately 100,000 people.  As the industry begins a slow recovery, automotive assemblers continue to invest in Ontario facilities, bringing new production models to these plants

Ontario is a significant player in North America’s auto parts sector with a combination of major domestic and international firms operating here.  There are approximately 350 automotive parts plants producing 10% of North American parts shipments.  Ontario is also home to approximately 300 high quality tool, die and mould makers.  The supply base is fully integrated with the U.S. and Mexico.

The province has a strong network of universities and research centres performing R&D on automotive related issues, including Canada’s National Centre of Excellence for Automotive Research, Auto21 and the National Research Institute’s automotive headquarters. The Centre for Automotive Materials and Manufacturing are also both based in Ontario.  The province is home to the McMaster Institute for Automotive Research and Technology, the University of the Ontario Institute of Technology’s Centre for Automotive Excellence, and the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Automotive Research.

Ontario’s auto industry is a leader in related materials including:

Building Products and Associated Services

The Ontario building products and construction industry is one of the province's largest sectors, employing about 400,000 workers. The industry has numerous trade and professional associations as well as consulting and project management firms, all enforcing strict quality and performance standards that meet or surpass world certification systems, whose services are well equipped for the international level. The industry is comprised of over 100,000 companies in subsectors including residential and commercial construction and renovation products and engineering services. While Ontario building products are sold in over 100 countries, the vast majority of exports in this sector are to the United States.

The industry is facing challenges due to the rising Canadian dollar, the continued downturn in US residential housing construction, and decrease in commodity prices such as oriented strand board and lumber; offsetting these challenges however are opportunities for Ontario companies in markets such as Japan, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and across Latin America. The emergence of green building technologies, products and services has ensured steady growth and an innovative solution for Ontario builders trying to overcome the challenges faced during a period of economic recovery.

Environmental Technologies

Ontario is home to 3,000 environmental technologies and cleantech sector companies and a well-deserved reputation for innovative technologies and services across a range of sub sectors including:

Ontario companies continue to develop innovative solutions to environmental problems and issues around the world. Growth rates signal both the continuing success and potential of this important sector.

Financial Services

The clustering of financial services in Toronto, including five of the 13 largest banks in North America by market capitalization, has attracted highly skilled knowledge workers and a multi-lingual labour force with 232,000 directly employed in the sector.

Ontario’s financial services sector is diverse, encompassing:

Toronto is North America’s fastest growing financial services centre and Canada’s financial and business capital. Strengths include:

Life Sciences and Health Technologies

Ontario’s life sciences and health technologies industries encompass the pharmaceuticals and biotechnology sectors which employ more than 160,500 people, comprise more than 125 companies with revenues of almost $10 billion and R&D expenditures of $1.3 billion; the advanced medical technologies sector which employs more than 20,000 people in more than 700 companies with revenues of approximately $4 billion; and, the contract services sector (research, manufacturing, clinical trials) which employs more than 5,000 people in more than 75 companies with revenues of $100 million.  Ontario's biotech cluster is Canada's largest - and North America's third largest .

With 25 research and teaching hospitals employing 10,000 scientists, clinical investigators and other researchers, Ontario is also one of the largest biomedical research centres in North America. Ontario and Federal R&D tax incentives can cut after-tax research costs by 47-64%  with a number of Ontario tax credits that top-up the Federal Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) program.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

Ontario’s ICT sector includes leaders in:

Ontario is home to over 5,000 innovative ICT companies ranging from home-grown leaders such as Research in Motion and OpenText, to foreign multinationals like IBM, Ericsson, Dell, Ubisoft and Google, to a large number of small and medium sized firms from Ottawa to Waterloo.

Market opportunities are growing in digital media such as video gaming, special effects for films and simulation and diversification is increasing into new value chains such as defence and security.

Mining Technologies and Associated Services

As one of the top mining and exploration jurisdictions in the world, Ontario is home to a community of global experts in mining equipment, environmental impact, metallurgy, S&T and their associated services and technologies. Toronto is the mine-financing capital of the world, with over 1,100 mining companies valued at $143 billion dollars listed on the TSX and TSX Venture Exchange. More than 1,000 Ontario companies supply everything from contract mining to customized equipment design to hundreds of exploration and development projects in Canada and in countries around the world.

Renewable Energy Technologies

Ontario’s renewable energy sector is growing rapidly both in terms of renewable energy power developments and in terms of a growing domestic capacity. The sector has strengths in the following areas:

The promotion of environmentally friendly energy generation in Ontario as well as government incentives for clean energy development have supported this sector domestically and strengthened the competitiveness of Ontario firms internationally. Opportunities in the renewable energy sector are growing with aggressive programs in the US and a number of other jurisdictions globally.

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