Linamar receives $100 million investment for advanced manufacturing tech

OTTAWA — The federal and Ontario governments announced grants Monday worth up to $100 million combined to help automotive parts maker Linamar Corp. develop its advanced manufacturing technologies.

The Linamar investments are expected to create 1,500 jobs in Canada and help maintain more than 8,000 other positions.

The federal government will provide a grant of $49 million to the company and Ontario will provide a conditional grant of up to $50 million.

The project will be the first to receive cash through a federal program announced in the budget last year to support research and development, the scale-up of high-potential companies and efforts to attract investment to Canada. Ottawa’s strategic innovation fund is open to all sectors and will allocate $1.26 billion over five years through a combination of grants and loans.

The Ontario government said in a statement that its conditional grant will come from the province’s jobs and prosperity fund as part of a project with overall eligible costs of up to $500 million.

The release said the funding will help Linamar build next-generation transmissions and drive trains, high-efficiency engine parts and develop technologies for electric and connected vehicles. It also said the grants will support a Linamar innovation centre focused on technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and collaborative robotics.

Federal Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains and his Ontario counterpart Brad Duguid made the announcement in Guelph, Ont.