By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
The Town of Amherstburg is the very first to be able to dip into the Province’s Trade Impacted Communities Program fund.
The local municipality will receive $838K through what Essex MPP Anthony Leardi (PC) called a tactical tool to protect good-paying jobs and build reliance across Ontario’s most affected regions.
The announcement was made at the Amherstburg Municipal Building on Monday morning.
The funding will support Amherstburg’s over $1.1M Readiness and Economic Diversification Strategy, a project aimed to enhance competitiveness and boost investment readiness by preparing more than 700-acres of industrial land at Howard Industrial Park.
“Amherstburg is at the heart of North America’s most important US-Canada trade corridor, supporting the manufacturing supply chains that have long-driven our regional and provincial economies,” MPP Anthony Leardi said, noting the strategic location has enabled generations of businesses and families to prosper.
“Over the past year, Ontario’s long-standing relations with our partners in the United States has been severely tested, and we have been reminded that we have to always be prepared to adapt how we do business, where we invest, and who we partner with,” Leardi said. “President Trump’s tariffs have taken aim at industries in every corner of the province, disrupting supply chains between our great nations.”
Nowhere is that pressure more evident than in border regions, he added.
When talk of tariffs began, the Ontario government under the leadership of Premier Doug Ford “understood the need for unprecedented action.” That is when a $30B tariff relief program was launched.
Part of that was the creation of the Trade Impacted Communities Program.
The funding to Amherstburg will support industrial investment planning and readiness for the Howard Industrial Park, Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb explained. It will also support targeted studies, expert consulting, and dedicated resources to better understand the municipality’s industrial lands, improve their market readiness, and strengthen investment attraction efforts.
Amherstburg was grateful to the Ontario Government for identifying Amherstburg as a recipient of this grant, he added.
Melissa Osborne, Deputy CAO/Director of Development Service for the Town of Amherstburg, said the Readiness and Economic Diversification Strategy is one that will transition the community in a significant way.
She acknowledged the work of Amherstburg’s Council, its Economic Development Advisory Committee, and staff in the Planning and Economic Development team who worked on the grant application.
The Howard Industrial Park area has always been identified for industrial development; however, there was not really a thoughtful way in which to approach it. Around three-years ago, Amherstburg proceeded with a secondary plan that would identify the necessary development respecting the transition in the area from industrial-agricultural and residential to industrial.
The Town then moved into looking at zoning, and expanded its financial incentive programs out to that area.
The next step was getting provincial support through the Trade Impacted Communities Program fund. With the grant, Amherstburg will bring consultants on board, who will identify everything done, then look for market trends and opportunities, understanding the economic climate and trade challenges. The consultants, Osborne added, will also consider the Howard Industrial’s location to the border, the 401, and airports, and the eventual opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge.
“We can then go after those markets in a very targeted and focused way to bring those businesses into our community,” Osborne said.
She later added the secondary plan has thoughtful development for the preservation of the residential components, and where the light industrial would be developed out to.
Deputy Mayor Gibb added Amherstburg received a “pretty good body-blow with what happened with Diageo, which was closed in February, leaving around 170 employees out of work.
This plan is one that focuses on the long-term to bring in good-paying jobs and diversify its tax base. With industrial development comes more tax revenue, Gibb added.
“There is not a lot a municipality can do to bring jobs, but this is one of those tough behind-the-scenes things our experts have done to set the table and bring good, long-term, good paying jobs to the people of Amherstburg and to the rest of the region.”
Leardi believes it is “really special to be the first community in all of Ontario to be announced as one of the recipients of the Trade Impacted Communities Program.”