The federal government recently confirmed investments of up to $100 million that are forecast to create well over 1,000 new skilled jobs within Canada’s life sciences sector.
The move builds on a $9 million investment to launch the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences under the Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program.
The recent round of funding, hailing from the Strategic Response Fund, includes more than $30M for Kardium, a Vancouver-based medical device innovator established in 2007.
Kardium’s flagship offering, a device featuring an integrated mapping and ablation solution, received regulatory approval from Health Canada in July and from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2025.
Through the SRF, “Canada is investing in our greatest strengths: our people, our innovation, and our capacity to compete,” according to minister of industry Mélanie Joly.
The capital will contribute toward Kardium’s $125M Burnaby project, the essence of which is a world-class manufacturing facility for advanced medical devices.
The project will enable Kardium to expand its cleanroom capacity from 500 units a year to 30,000.
The facility is also expected to create and maintain up to 1,000 skilled roles within the province.
Germany-born Evonik Industries, meanwhile, has garnered nearly $70M to expand its Canadian presence into British Columbia, where the speciality chemicals company intends to build and operate the Nucleic Acid Competence Centre.
The new facility will enable Evonik to increase its product development and manufacturing capacity for mRNA vaccines and therapies. It will also create nearly 300 jobs.
Adrian Dix, British Columbia Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth, says the Province’s Look West strategy includes a 10-year goal to double the number of jobs in B.C.’s life sciences sector to 40,000.
“It’s never been more important to support the Canadian companies and researchers that are solving real world health challenges, creating jobs, and making life better for people here at home,” he stated.
British Columbia is “increasingly establishing itself as a driving force behind Canadian innovation, with the talent, ambitious businesses, and world-class ideas needed to sustain that momentum,” posits Wade Grant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Since 2020, the Government of Canada invested $2.5 billion in 43 projects across the bio-manufacturing and therapeutics ecosystem.
“We are creating good jobs for Canadians,” Joly remarked.
