Province delivers millions in NOHFC funding in Sudbury

Rickford delivers millions in NOHFC funding Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development was in Sudbury on Tuesday doling out millions in provincial dollars for variety of sectors.

Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development was in Sudbury on Tuesday doling out millions in provincial dollars for a variety of sectors, industries and projects.

Greg Rickford commented that it felt “a bit like Christmas” when he delivered financial goodies from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) at three stops.

There was $3 million for six Agri-Food projects at the Northern Ontario Agriculture Conference.

“Our government recognizes an extraordinary opportunity to build agricultural production capacity in northern Ontario,” Rickford said.

“It is really one of the next frontiers for agriculture production, and so we understand the challenges; we want to turn those into opportunities.”

The Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance got money for its annual conference and to administer a tile drainage project in the Timiskaming and Cochrane districts.

NOFHC cash Millions of dollars in provincial funding from the NOHFC was handed out Tuesday in Sudbury when the Minister of Northern Development was visiting. (Photo from video)

“So the funding we received for the tile drainage program helps producers to produce food, get on the field sooner, get on the field later in the year so they can be more productive on the farm,” said Rachel Kehoe with NOFIA.

“That will reduce their costs on the arm and hopefully will correlate indirectly to food costs down the line.”

There was also $3.4 million for film and television production in Sudbury, including $2.6 million for Seasons 2 and 3 of the comedy ‘Shoresy.’

“That homegrown film and television productions like Shoresy, like Letterkenny, and certainly other film productions have the tools that they need,” Rickford said.

“We’re seeing the benefits.”

No one from Metric Media was available to speak to the media, but in a statement founder and CEO Mark Montefiore said the funds help develop talent and economic growth for the area.

Rickford capped off the day in Sudbury with $2 million for three health-care projects.

One includes a wearable ultrasound from Flosonics Medical.

“To help us move our technology from an in-hospital setting to the outpatient setting -- like people at home, nursing facilities, dialysis clinics -- where we can really help people manage their cardiovascular health,” said director and CEO Joe Eybl.

One of the other health-care projects funded is a portable blood analyzer from Verv Technologies.

Both projects were researched and developed at the Health Sciences North Research Institute.