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Welcome to the Innisfil Economic Development newsletter!
This month, we're excited to share the latest updates on economic growth and upcoming events in our community. From innovative startups to thriving local businesses, there’s always something to celebrate in Innisfil. The Town of Innisfil’s Economic Development team is here to support you—reach out anytime at business@innisfil.ca for general inquiries or business assistance.
Help shape the future of tourism in Innisfil
This is a friendly reminder to share your perspective through the Innisfil Tourism Business Survey before it closes on Monday, January 19. Whether tourism is central to your business or something you’re interested in growing into, your insight helps ensure the Town’s five-year Tourism Strategy and Asset Map reflects the realities and ideas of local businesses. The survey takes just a few minutes, and responses are confidential and reported only in aggregate.
DMZ Innisfil January All Access Workshop
Grant applications don’t have to feel overwhelming.
Join us and Ted Killin, Senior Grant Writer at DMZ HQ, for a hands-on, DMZ Innisfil All Access workshop, on growing your business through grants. Learn how to craft compelling applications, position your project for maximum impacts, and avoid common funding pitfalls.
With $50M+ in grant funding secured and hundreds of successful projects under his belt, Ted will share practical strategies you can use right away.
Spots are limited. Secure your space on EventBrite.
This virtual workshop is happening on Wednesday, January 28 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Tickets are free and open to businesses within Innisfil or the County of Simcoe.
New Entrepreneurial Journey Map
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The Town of Innisfil Economic Development Office, in partnership with business support organizations across Simcoe County, have launched a new tool to help connect entrepreneurs with business support such as loans, networking, programming, and workshops.
The new Entrepreneurial Journey Map is the first map in the region developed from the perspective of an entrepreneur and aims to help emerging founders identify what steps they should be taking to create, build and scale a successful business.
Use the Entrepreneurial Journey Map
In-Demand Career Profiles
The In-Demand Careers Inventory & Job Profiles is a new resource designed to help local employers, jobseekers and workforce development partners better understand the Town’s most promising career opportunities.
This initiative provides timely insights into emerging labour market trends, essential skills, and the occupations most needed by businesses in and around Innisfil. By identifying priority roles and mapping the skills required to succeed, the Town aims to better connect residents with meaningful employment and support the talent needs of local employers.
Through extensive research and employer engagement, the Town identified 25 high-demand careers across Innisfil’s key sectors. From this list, 10 detailed job profiles were developed, outlining role expectations, required qualifications, key competencies, and future growth potential.
See Innisfil's In-Demand Careers Profiles
Register your business with Experience Simcoe County
If you haven’t yet registered your business on the new Whereabouts platform Experience Simcoe County is using, please do so through Tourism Simcoe County's website as soon as possible. Whereabouts allows you to create your business listing and update it anytime you want so that information remains relevant. The Experience Simcoe County team then uses the information on Whereabouts to update their website to show your business, create itineraries to businesses listed on their website, and allows you to easily submit events to be featured on their events calendar which is their most viewed webpage.
Recycling collection changes
The Provincial Government has passed legislation making producers of recyclable materials (e.g., paper and plastic packaging) fully responsible for the costs of managing those materials. As of January 1, 2026, a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) will oversee a new province-wide residential recycling system. However, recycling collection will no longer be provided to Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional (IC&I) locations, including:
- Small businesses
- Churches and places of worship
- Municipal buildings
- Food banks
- Most not-for-profits
The County will continue collecting garbage and organics from small IC&I locations, but recycling will not be collected curbside. Please note: This change is not a decision made by the County or your local municipality. Local officials had hoped these properties would remain included in the curbside program. Learn more about the recycling change.
Resources in response to U.S. Tariff Concerns
The Town of Innisfil is actively engaged in discussions with a number of partners regarding the impending tariffs. In particular, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, is leading the charge on behalf of Canadian municipalities as it pertains to a number of tariff related impacts, which may include, but are not limited to municipal law enforcement, import and export of goods and services, impacts to municipal procurement and infrastructure projects, and potential impacts on small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s). Mayor Dollin, Council, and Economic Development staff are participating in these conversations and sharing the feedback of local business stakeholders.
In the meantime, the County of Simcoe Economic Development Office has created a dedicated webpage with comprehensive Tariff Resources to help businesses navigate potential changes. Also found on the site is a short tariff impact assessment created in collaboration with the Western Ontario Wardens Caucus.
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