Economic Development Investment Fund

In 2004 after an extensive public and corporate engagement process, the City of Kitchener created an innovative and creative solution to meeting the needs of one of Canada’s most rapidly growing populations.

It’s a one-of-a-kind strategy to fund major strategic infrastructure for the next decade, and a strategy that is spurring massive economic growth today, while building strong foundations for tomorrow.

Through a 10-year tax levy, the City created a $110 million Economic Development Investment Fund that allows Council and staff to address two critical issues: the need for new and creative sources of funding for Kitchener’s future, and the crucial need for industrial employment lands in the city.

To date, more than $60 million from the fund has been devoted to supporting downtown projects that will grow and diversify the local economy and bring more people to live, work, visit and learn in the core. Additional funding has been committed to strengthening the city’s traditional manufacturing industries through the development of new employment lands in other areas of the cities.

The City of Kitchener EDIF took home first place at the 2006, Economic Developers Council of Ontario awards in the category of Physical Infrastructure.

Some of the downtown projects supported by the Economic Development Investment Fund include:

$30 milliion, University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy, opening Jan. 2009 in downtown Kitchener
$6.5 million, Wilfrid Laurier Faculty of Social Work, opened Sept. 2006
$5.5 million, downtown parking solutions
$3.3 million, for major streetscape improvements downtown 
$2.7 million, improvements to downtown’s Victoria Park
$1.7 million, for Downtown Community Centre, opened in 2005 

$12 million committed to funding industrial employment lands

EDIF brochure (1.5Mb pdf), 2-Year EDIF Report Card (384 Kb pdf)