Introduction

ConnectON is an economic development tool created to support municipal and regional decision making and growth. Currently, municipalities, cities and regions in the Golden Horseshoe, Greater Golden Horseshoe, and Eastern Ontario are participating in asset mapping for the agri-food and manufacturing sectors. Municipalities have the ability to upload, update, select, sort and map their own data, as well as view the data regionally, from neighbouring participating municipalities. There has been significant interest in expanding the geographic areas and adding additional sectors such as tourism and information technology, to the program.

About The Program

ConnectON is a municipally driven program in partnership with a variety of
municipalities and supporting organizations.

  • 40+ Municipalities
  • 70,000+ Data Points
  • 175+ Users

By participating in the asset mapping program, planning and economic development staff will have the tools to access accurate, current data that can be used on a local and regional level. This information will provide market intelligence to guide investment, identify trends and emerging opportunities, retain and expand existing markets, create more business to business connections, understand the impact of investment on a regional basis, provide decision makers with meaningful information on their sectors, strengthen collaboration and communication across the regional system, as well as support other municipal priorities such as planning, food charter initiatives, and emergency response measures.

How to Get Involved

To build a regional data base, each municipality is invited to contribute business information based on resources that are currently available, including but not limited to business directories, information from employment surveys, business retention and expansion surveys, etc. The intent is to include assets across the whole value chain, as defined by each sector. The result is a regional data base accompanied by mapping capabilities and comparative analysis. Municipal staff input data into a common Excel spreadsheet template. Standards for data input have been developed based on Canadian NAICS codes. Through data sharing agreements, municipal staff will have password access to their data, regional data and data provided through partnerships like the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Testimonials

  • City of Hamilton

    The asset mapping tool has provided Hamilton with a wealth of knowledge and visuals to help develop marketing materials, inform strategies and ...

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  • Halton Region

    It is important to have an understanding of the types of businesses and their interconnections that support the agricultural system to...

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  • City of Kawartha Lakes

    The City of Kawartha Lakes is a community with a strong and integral agriculture and agri-food sector that contributes economic...

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ConnectON provided municipal and regional data to support research and proposal development for the recently announced UCPR Federal Slaughter, Processing and Distribution Facility. - United Counties of Prescott Russell (2019, 2020)

Resources

Data for Studies, Research and Policy

The following is list of just some of the projects where ConnectON has been used as a data source to inform studies, research and policy.

  • Carrot Value Chain Study (2019) Synthesis Agri-food Network – Holland Marsh Growers Association and the Golden Horseshoe Food and Farming Alliance
  • Food Terminal Study (2019) – GHFFA and Canadian Urban Institute
  • Business Retention and Expansion Agri-food System Studies – Durham Region BRE, Simcoe/Grey/Bruce Regional BRE, Dufferin BRE
  • Eastern Ontario Local Food Aggregation and Distribution Study (2019 – ongoing)
  • Analysis of Food and Farming Assets in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (2016)
  • State of Rural Canada III - Bridging Rural Data Gaps, (2019) Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation, ConnectON Case Study
  • Ontario East 3-D Mapping Project – with Carleton University - (Phase 1 and ongoing)
  • OMAFRA Agricultural Systems Mapping of Greater Golden Horseshoe
  • Data to inform Municipal Comprehensive Reviews across participatingmunicipalities - (ongoing)

Past Newsletters