By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
“We are facing extraordinary times right now in this county and the country,” Keith Andrews, COO & Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors for Invest WindsorEssex (IWE) – the region’s economic development organization, told members of Essex County Council at the May 7 meeting.
“We have never really seen a situation like we are facing right now when it comes to trade and the uncertainty of what we will be facing in the economy.”
Every day, however, “we continue to work hard, and I am pleased to say [for] uncertain times, we are seeing success,” Andrews continued. “We drive investment, we drive expansion, and the team continues to put their dedication to fostering economic growth and supporting our companies and our communities.”
The IWE reps appeared in front of County Council as last year, the organization made a commitment to provide Essex County Council with regular, in-person updates on its activities, its work, and what it does on behalf of the region.
That promise was made after County Council decided to reduce IWE’s County contribution 15%, from $1,122,060 to $953,750 during 2025 Budget Deliberations. Originally, IWE asked for $1.23M, around a 9% increase from 2024, then pulled it back to match its previous funding ask.
IWE is funded by the County and the City of Windsor. With that funding, it also obtains provincial dollars.
The original cut in funding stemmed from a survey Essex County Council received back in July that detailed the results received from a discretionary regional shared services survey sent out to the seven local municipalities.
In terms of satisfaction, 53% of respondents report being either satisfied or very satisfied with Invest WindsorEssex products/services. From a reputation standpoint, 52% of respondents rated their impression of Invest WindsorEssex as good to excellent. 43% believed their municipality is receiving good value for money from Invest WindsorEssex.
At the regular meeting on February 18, however, a majority of County Council moved Tecumseh Deputy Mayor/Deputy Warden, Joe Bachetti’s, motion to rescind that resolution and reinstate the original funding amount.
Detailing IWE’s work in the first quarter of 2025, Joe Goncalves, Vice President Investment Attraction & Strategic Initiatives, noted IWE’s Investment Attraction Department and Business Retention and Expansion Department and Small Business Centre landed around $421M worth of new investment.
In addition, there were five expansions, 1260 direct jobs, and 14 business startups. 31 business support sessions were also held, which were provided to 576 attendees. 291 business consultations took place, stemming from businesses that connected with IWE looking for support.
“I don’t need to tell anybody around this room how important this is to the economic vitality of our region in how it is going to contribute to new home building, to commercial plazas going up, and really to the GDP output of Windsor-Essex,” Goncalves said.
In building off Andrew’s previous statement, Goncalves noted “we live in very complicated times. Even in those complicated times, we managed to land investments in the Windsor-Essex region, which will benefit us all.”
He spoke of the $120M over eight-years investment from Neo, and the $300M Minth investment that also has plans for further expansion.
In looking at the Minth investment, for instance, Goncalves highlighted that will equate to an economic output of nearly $357M, create an additional indirect 1564 regional jobs, with regional wages totalling $151,708, 247 introduced to the Windsor-Essex area.
There are four expansion projects to be announced in Essex County in the near future, which will total $43M and 220 jobs, Goncalves said.
“We do this because we want to build great things for the community that we serve, and we want to improve the quality of life of every resident across Windsor-Essex,” Goncalves said, noting the projects he highlighted will contribute to that.
In terms of dealing with the US tariff situation, Wendy Stark, Director of Business Retention & Expansion, noted IWE has partnered with the Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce to launch and cochair the Windsor-Essex Economic Trade Task Force.
The group has been meeting weekly, but will likely move to biweekly moving forward, and has hosted a couple of events, as well.
“I personally met with many companies across the region since all of this started, trying to connect them with programs that are available, provide them with all the information we have,” Stark said.
The Task Force has tried to help businesses implement strategies to help mitigate tariffs and examine other markets for their products.
Stark also spoke of the New Start Ventures program, launched March 1 by IWE’s Small Business & Entrepreneurial Centre, aimed to help newcomers to Canada with essential skills, knowledge, mentorship, and resources to start and grow their own businesses.
In speaking to the IWE’s Strategic Plan, a document many County Councillors previously voiced they wanted to see complete, Andrews noted the strategic planning process began in January, and IWE is on schedule.
The overall goal is to develop a five-year roadmap for the organization, and will identify priority areas of focus, and will determine how IWE should be organized to deliver on the plan, Andrews said.
Work will continue this month, with additional input gathered. The target is to have the Strategic Plan presented to the Board of Directors by mid-June.
Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers appreciated the update from IWE. He asked if the Strategic Plan will be shared with County Council.
Andrews noted IWE will look to its Board of Directors first to vet the draft plan, which would then determine what the next steps would be.
Something that keeps Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara up at night is looking at Canada as a G7 Nation and that it is at the bottom for productivity. He said productivity has to be brought up.
He believes that has to be a top-down funded opportunity from the federal and provincial jurisdiction to aid companies.
McNamara asked IWE what the County can do at the ground-level to convince the government to make big investments, so Canada will be a successful nation moving forward.
Andrews agreed with McNamara, noting productivity is an important issue, and is a silent issue in some respects. To Goncalves, tariffs are a threat, but Canada’s productivity gap is a bigger threat.
He spoke of how many small companies know AI needs to be implemented, but very few know how to do that.
Goncalves spoke of how IWE set up a proposal with the federal government to do a SWOT analysis of around 300 companies across the region in the automotive, logistics, service, and pharmaceutical industries to look at what they need to do, and when, in terms of implementing AI. Phase two shows the return on investment.
Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb said it is important for County Council to hear of IWE’s successes with small business owners.
“A truly resilient economy is one where small business owners can create their own jobs,” Gibb said.
Be the first to comment