April 5, 2005
PEMBROKE, Ontario, April 5, 2005 — The Honourable Mauril Bélanger, Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister responsible for Eastern Ontario, on behalf of the Honourable Joe Comuzzi, Minister of State (FedNor), today announced Government of Canada support of $396,090 to the Renfrew County Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) for ongoing operations and for four projects designed to strengthen several key local sectors.
“The Renfrew County CFDC plays a key role in contributing to the region’s prosperity by leading efforts to stimulate economic growth and create jobs,” said Minister Bélanger. “These initiatives will benefit the area by employing advanced technologies for improving health care infrastructure and capitalizing on opportunities to boost local sectors such as agriculture, forestry and tourism.”
The Renfrew County CFDC is one of 61 CFDCs in rural and Northern Ontario funded by Industry Canada’s Community Futures Development Program through FedNor. CFDCs deliver a wide variety of programs and services to support community economic development and small business growth. They employ local staff and are each governed by a volunteer board of directors, made up of local residents representative of the community.
The Renfrew County CFDC is conducting a feasibility study to examine the regulatory, logistical and financial factors involved with developing a mobile abattoir – a meat preparation facility – for the region, as well as a package to encourage private sector investment in this sector.
The CFDC also plans to develop an agricultural opportunities strategy to promote meat and other farm products from the area. The strategy will identify barriers and opportunities for expanding local markets. Networks linking agricultural producers to retail outlets, restaurants and direct customers are also planned.
The organization is also leading an initiative to develop a secure electronic platform to create a Community Health Information Network for Renfrew County health care service providers to share and exchange client/patient medical information. This enables efficient use of resources, reduced travel times for patients and care providers, and access to faster, and more appropriate patient care. As a result, Renfrew County will become a leader in delivering coordinated health care.
The CFDC is partnering with area communities, forestry-related organizations and government agencies to provide information on local forests and promote tourism development in this sector. It plans to hire consultants to complete a business plan to guide creation of a network of demonstration forests in the area. This will enable the CFDC to determine the feasibility of marketing local forests as a tourism product.
Lastly, the Renfrew County CFDC will support the development of a 5-year plan to guide the County of Renfrew in its economic, business, and community economic development endeavours.
Of the $396,090 Government of Canada contribution, $262,500 is in support of the CFDC’s ongoing operations, $72,000 is for the abattoir feasibility study and agricultural opportunities strategy, $25,890 is to support development of the medical exchange platform, $20,700 is for the forestry sector initiatives, and $15,000 is for the development of the 5-year plan.
“We are grateful for this support to implement projects geared to revitalizing the local economy and increasing our area’s ability to compete in the global marketplace,” said Ted Barron, Chair of the Renfrew County CFDC.
Through this initiative, the Government of Canada is acting on its commitment to support economic growth and diversification in rural communities.
Funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 2005 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.
To find out more about Ontario CFDCs, visit us at: http://cfdc-ontario.ic.gc.ca
For more information, please contact:
Graeme Wilkes
Director of Communications, Office of the Honourable Joe Comuzzi
(613) 947-5850
Robert Naud
Senior Communications Officer, Industry Canada/FedNor
(613) 954-3691 or 1 877 377-6637