FedNor is now a stand-alone agency

Officials announce Fednor to become standalone agency. Aug. 10/21 (Lyndsay Aelick/CTV Northern Ontario)

Sudbury -

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, also known as FedNor, is moving from a program to a stand-alone agency. Now that FedNor is one of Canada’s Regional Development Agencies it will be better positioned to respond to northern Ontario’s needs with an array of strategic and well-funded programming.

Sault Ste Marie MP Terry Sheehan made the announcement in Sudbury Tuesday on behalf of Melanie Joly, minister of economic development and official languages.

"What happens is FedNor when somebody puts in an application its processed, due diligence is done, and it is signed off here but then it has to go out of northern Ontario for another level of scrutiny, decision making, so it slows things down. Having lived here, being born here, all of us, and spent time here, it’s a total different thinking in northern Ontario. So it's really important to have decisions for northerners made in northern Ontario. So its going to be faster, nimbler, it will be more responsive to the realities of northern Ontario," Sheehan said.

Since its inception in 1987, FedNor has invested more than $1.4 billion to support over 7,500 projects, which helped create and maintain more than 87,500 jobs in municipalities and First Nation communities across Northern Ontario.

The Government of Canada has laidout a plan, through Budget 2021, to set businesses on a track for long-term growth and ensure that Canada's future will be healthier, more equitable, greener, and more prosperous.

"During the pandemic, one of the great things that we launched was the Regional Relief and Recovery Fund which was to support businesses that weren’t eligible for other federal supports. So that was a large sum of money with some forgive-ability to it," Sheehan said. "We also heard from stakeholders that especially from the tourism industry that they needed more support, so I was pleased to see that in Budget 2021 we have the Tourism Relief Fund. So that’s part of the $83 million in addition to FedNor’s regular budget and there is for the tourism industry up to $100,000 in non-repayable forgivable funding."

The other three programs that will receive funding over the next three years include the Canada Community Revitalization Fund, Jobs and Growth Fund, and the Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative. Businesses, communities, and organizations should contact FedNor to find out more.