OTTAWA: Canada announced Friday Can$250 million ($253 million) for auto sector research and development over five years, to engineer better powertrains, lightweight car components and other advances.
"Our government remains focused on creating jobs, growth and long-term prosperity and to keeping Canada's automotive manufacturing sector globally competitive and innovative," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The government support will be funneled to a handful of companies for large projects through the Automotive Innovation Fund. First introduced in 2008, the fund has provided monies to Ford, Linamar Corporation, Toyota and Magna International.
Canada's automotive industry contributes 12 percent of the country's manufacturing GDP and 12 percent of total merchandise exports.
The industry employs approximately 111,000 Canadians directly and another 338,000 indirectly, according to government figures.
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