As in poise and aplomb, or even the old sense of a well-composed, complete package.
The fact that they’re both in Ontario only accents the power of the province that this year earns Site Selection’s No. 1 ranking as the most competitive province in the nation, beating out fast-rising Saskatchewan and British Columbia based on cumulative and per-capita calculations from corporate facility projects, those projects’ capital investment and jobs as documented by Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database.
Belgium’s Umicore in July announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Canada finalizing the government’s support under its Strategic Innovation Fund for a new $1.5 billion (all dollar amounts in Canadian dollars), 700-plus-job manufacturing facility for cathode active battery materials on a 350-acre site in Loyalist, part of the Kingston, Ontario, region. Over 18 months ending in April, Ontario attracted more than $12 billion in investments from Ford, ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Honda, GM and a JV between LG Energy Solution and Stellantis.
“Canada and the Ontario province have all it takes for Umicore to establish a full-fledged, sustainable supply chain for battery materials, all the way from the mine right to the end-market of electric vehicles,” said Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, he said U.S. sites were considered, but when incentives discussions ensued with a combination of provincial and federal officials, “Canada spoke with one voice.”
The news followed French life sciences company Sanofi’s June announcement that it will open an Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence in Toronto, where more than 100 new employees will join Sanofi’s global network of existing digital hubs in Paris, Boston, New York and Barcelona. The news follows Sanofi’s commitment to a $900 million end-to-end vaccine manufacturing facility in Toronto. Joyce Drohan, Sanofi’s global chief data officer, cited the company’s ability in Toronto to attract top AI talent and partner with leading academic and research institutions as it joins “the city’s vibrant high-tech community, which is recognized as one of the world’s premier AI and data ecosystems.”
The country has it together when it comes to the living ecosystem too, as Calgary topped all North American metro areas in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2022 Liveability Index at No. 4 in the world, just ahead of No. 5 Vancouver. Toronto and Montréal weren’t far behind among North American cities, both finishing above the first U.S. city in the ranking, Atlanta.
“When it comes to liveability,” The Economist stated, “it seems the further north you go the better.”
Below are citations honoring the top three provinces in Site Selection’s Canadian Competitiveness Rankings, followed by the top 20 regions (and ties) receiving our annual Canada’s Best Locations honor, based on similar analysis of corporate facility investment data.