Chinese investors put $621m into Ontario projects

Province aims to diversify sources of trade and financing, officials say

Ontario, Canada has secured significant new investments from Chinese partners totaling more than C$700 million ($621 million), its ministers said.

"China has been a very large economy and an important partner for us to diversify our economic development," said Brad Duguid, minister of economic development, employment and infrastructure of Ontario.

Duguid said that the United States used to be a major trading partner of Ontario, but after the 2008 global financial crisis, Ontario realized that it should pursue diversified economic development and strengthen cooperation with emerging countries such as China, Brazil, Mexico and India.

"China has great potential and a lot of Chinese enterprises with strong capabilities are going abroad, so we want to fully seize the opportunities," said Michael Chan, minister of citizenship, immigration and international trade of Ontario.

Ontario delegate organizations started a week-long visit to China last Monday. They signed more than 10 deals with Chinese companies valued in excess of C$700 million in sectors including real estate, energy, healthcare, telecommunications and manufacturing.

The largest deal was that involving Greenland Group, a global property development company based in Shanghai, which will invest C$400 million to build two residential towers in downtown Toronto. Construction is scheduled to begin within six months.

Another real estate deal linked Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart and Mennie Canada Ltd, which will set up a restaurant joint venture based in Toronto.

"We welcome property companies like Greenland Group to invest in Ontario, and they will promote local economic development and create jobs," said Chan.

"The immigration trend of Ontario is very good and there were more than 100,000 new immigrants last year, which is good for property developers."

Canada approved more than 34,000 Chinese nationals' applications for permanent resident status in 2013, making China the largest source of new immigrants in Canada last year, chinanews.com reported.

According to Duguid, besides the real estate sector, clean energy, technology and healthcare are the most popular industries for China and Ontario to seek cooperation.

"Ontario is the only area in the world that has fully stopped using coal to produce electricity ... our technologies in clean energy are advanced and we would like to share them with China," said Duguid.

During the visit, the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group signed memorandums of understanding with two innovation centers in Ontario - MaRS Innovation and WaterTAP - to study and use clean energy and water technology.

Duguid said coal used to take up 30 percent of the energy mix in Ontario and the province worked for many years to eliminate it. The province significantly increased the use of wind and solar energy and enacted strict energy conservation rules and guidelines.

China Longyuan Energy Power Group Co Ltd has taken part in the province's wind energy programs, and it will put 42 new wind turbines on grid this week in Ontario, Duguid said.

"After the visit, we can realize that China has strong determination to improve its environment and we have confidence China can make it," said Duguid.