On March 7 I was honoured to co-host BDO's Manufacturing Summit, along with MPP Rod Jackson at the Liberty North Conference Centre in Barrie.

This forum brought together 150 local stakeholders for an informative day of sharing ideas and success stories.

I would like to personally thank Stephen Jones and his team at BDO for putting on this important event in our community.

In an increasingly competitive global market, our federal government's ongoing support for Canadian manufacturers is key to the continued strength and prosperity of the sector.

Canadian manufacturers employ approximately 1.8 million workers across the country and we continue to break down barriers that have challenged our firms from doing business in a global market.

Since 2009, our government has eliminated close to 1,900 tariffs - including the elimination of all tariffs on imported machinery, equipment and manufacturing inputs to make Canada the first tariff-free manufacturing zone in the G-20.

These actions are providing more than $525 million in annual tariff relief to Canadian businesses and have helped Canada's manufacturing sector to continue to compete and innovate in this 21st century global economy.

There were a number of topics covered during the course of the day at the Barrie summit, including the strength of the Canadian dollar, the challenges companies face from bureaucratic red tape, the rising costs of energy and international trade.

My federal colleague, International Trade Minister Ed Fast, was one of the headline speakers and he spoke passionately about our government's recent efforts to expand trade.

Trade is vital to the future of our workforce with one out of every five Canadian jobs depending on exports. Canada only had trade agreements with five countries when our government came to office in 2006. Now we have 43 nations to trade with and even more negotiations underway, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Asia.

We have been playing catchup since we came to office and a good example is last week's announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper of concluded bilateral free trade negotiations with South Korea.

With the United States and the European Union having inked deals with the Republic of Korea in recent years, Canadian exports were missing out on opportunities abroad. Deals like this and last October's free trade agreement with the European Union will create sizable and tangible benefits for a wide range of sectors across our economy.

There is no better job creator or economic growth generator than freer and more open trade. Our government believes that trade and investment represent the twin engines of growth for our economy and federal investments have been supporting our businesses right here in Barrie.

Southmedic received a $900,000 investment provided through FedDev, Ontario's Prosperity Initiative (repayable loan), to keep skilled labour here in Barrie that would have otherwise ended up in China.

TNR Industrial Doors and Wolf Steel (better known as Napoleon) - each received a federal investment of over a $120,000 to support their operations.

These types of strategic federal investments have helped our local manufacturers and businesses grow, prosper and hire more people.

On Friday I will be extremely pleased to make some planned funding announcements for even more support.