The Toronto Region Board of Trade’s Trade Accelerator Program (TAP), which helps companies develop an export plan with the help of mentors, is getting $5 million; an additional $1.7 million will go to expanding TAP into Northern communities. TAP aims to help 1,000 Ontario companies export. (The Logic)

Talking point: The funding is part of the government’s six-year $1.1 billion Export Diversification Strategy designed to increase exports by 50 per cent by 2025. When the strategy was announced in November 2018, the government said Canada has relied on a single trading partner, the U.S., for too long. Ng’s appointment to the new Export Promotion file in July 2018 came during a time of strained U.S. relations amid USMCA negotiations; that tension continues today as USMCA still has not been ratified. In Monday’s announcement, the government said its participation in USMCA, the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership gives Canadians access to 1.5 billion customers abroad. Ng told The Logic that the TAP program received funding due to its track record; of the 530 businesses that have received support, 47 per cent experienced sales growth and 85 per cent explored a global marketplace.