At Waterloo EDC’s annual public event, the big numbers took centre stage. Ten years. $4 billion in new investment. But that wasn’t all.
The event served as a celebration of the organization’s first decade.
The program featured Waterloo EDC’s current Board Chair, David Fransen, and it’s first Board Chair, Gerry Remers. It featured Tim Hollander, the new President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, which is both Waterloo Region’s biggest manufacturing employer and the company Waterloo EDC assisted to earn one of its earliest investment wins.
And, of course, it featured Tony LaMantia – Waterloo EDC’s President & CEO for all ten years – delivering truly remarkable results at what will be his last Public Information Meeting. Not only did this include the headline numbers, but also results for 2025, which totaled more than $1.8 billion over 15 separate investments, creating nearly 1,000 new jobs in the community.
The concluding discussion with Marc Fuentes, Vice President at Eclipse Automation, capped the event with a look at the future – how artificial intelligence is set to turn the manufacturing industry on its head.
It was a busy hour of programming that you can watch in its entirety below.
Here are the biggest highlights and insights:
1. The big numbers make the best headlines, but there’s more
“In its first ten years of existence, Waterloo EDC has been responsible for $4 billion worth of new investment in Waterloo Region. Technically it’s $3.97 billion, but I figured you’d remember four better than 3.97,” said Fransen as he opened the event.
That’s the big number – nearly $4 billion in new investment. But the results Waterloo EDC has achieved are much more nuanced. These investments have also created more than 6,200 new jobs in our community and retained another 6,200 or so. These investments have landed across the community:
- Cambridge: $2.5 billion
- Kitchener: $900 million
- Waterloo: $350 million
- Townships: $200 million
For every $1 in funding from municipal partners, Waterloo EDC has landed $182 in new investment, making the organization a fantastic investment for the entire Waterloo community.
“What we’ve done over the last ten years is in the category of ‘almost impossible to believe,’” LaMantia said, as he delivered the results.
2. Trump tariffs are changing how Waterloo EDC operates
Early in his opening remarks, Fransen highlighted that American trade policy would have an impact on everything aspect of Waterloo EDC’s operations.
“It’s a tariff-impacted challenging environment and the focus is on the things that we can control,” LaMantia later added. “We have to push for market diversification.”
Making clear that Waterloo EDC certainly wouldn’t be abandoning the American market, LaMantia went on to note that there are many things Waterloo Region can do to set its own destiny. The development of shovel-ready land of all sizes, investing in a single community brand, continuing to work with local businesses on expansion and attracting talent to the community could pay dividends down the line when international investment – hopefully – returns to some degree of normalcy.
He also noted that we have opportunities to push into new industries – defense, nuclear, artificial intelligence and quantum – and new markets in both Europe and Asia, in line with federal government priorities.
3. Waterloo EDC is fulfilling its founding mandate
One of the highlights of the event was the return of Remers, who not only served as Waterloo EDC’s founding Board Chair, but was also directly involved in the creation of the organization and the broader conversation on economic development in the Waterloo community.
“Our community, citizens, business and organizational leaders, municipal CAOs and elected officials – we all came together to build a better model for economic development,” said Remers, speaking of the founding of Waterloo EDC. “The full region focus was about competitive advantage – together we’re stronger and together our value proposition is better.”
He went on to describe how the organization was among the first in Canada to have a board of directors that was independent of local politics. The initial goals were simple – build a team, establish a track record of success and gain a reputation for excellence in economic development – while becoming an effective community partner.
“As we look back over this organization’s first ten years, I can honestly say that they’ve achieved, exceeded, the ambitious goals that were set back then,” said Remers. “I couldn’t be more proud. And as a community, I think we should all be proud of what we, in essence, have achieved together.”
Waterloo EDC’s past and present Board Chairs. From left to right: Gerry Remers, Arnold Drung, David Fransen and Murray Gamble
4. Toyota is committed to Waterloo Region
As Waterloo Region’s largest manufacturer and Canada’s largest automaker, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) plays an outsized role in the community. And at this moment, with tariff-induced uncertainty and a new local leader, there was the possibility that TMMC could also be a source of anxiety for Waterloo Region.
The new President of TMMC, Tim Hollander, dispelled those worries in his brief remarks.
“TMMC and Canada, in general, are really important to global Toyota and the Toyota North American footprint. We’re not going anywhere. We have $11 billion invested here,” Hollander explained. “We’re very proud to say we’ve never laid off a single employee in our 30-year history [in Waterloo Region] and we’re not going to start now.”
Home to North America’s best-selling vehicle – the Toyota RAV4 – and more JD Power Awards for Plant Quality than any other facility in the world, TMMC is a source of pride for Waterloo Region and it looks to remain that way in the future.
5. Change is inevitable – we should embrace it
Change was a key theme of the event, and the scale of change over Waterloo EDC’s first decade is almost shocking to those who have lived through it. From the Google HQ to the ION LRT to the billions of dollars in new development and new investment, much has changed over the last ten years.
The key message from this theme, though, was simply that it is important to embrace change. It’s going to happen, but with decisiveness and effort we can make change positive for the people and businesses of Waterloo Region.
“This transformation has largely been the result of deliberate decision making by corporate and political elites. Proactive, constructive decisions whose core intention was to build.”
In other words, to build a future of prosperity over the coming decade, we need to get to work.