The following is from the 13 December 2010 edition of "The Canadian Business Journal".

The federal government is giving the Pratt & Whitney Canada Corporation a $300-million repayable investment to develop better, more efficient aircraft engines.

Speaking in chilly Mississauga, Ont. today, Industry Minister Tony Clement told a press conference the cash infusion would create 700 skilled jobs during the project's research and development phase, and over 2,000 jobs during the 15-year period when those innovations come to light.

“What's happening is in Canada, we're being very aggressive on this,” Clement said. “You're starting to see the positive echoes, positive shockwaves that are happening in the aerospace sector.”

John Saabas, President of Pratt & Whitney Canada, said the new jobs would be split between its Mississauga and Longueuil, Que., and added he's “confident” his company will find the staff it needs in Canada.

Clement has spent most of the month making aerospace announcements, including a stop in Texas last week for a Lockheed Martin conference on the F-35 Join Strike Fighter. Canada has committed to buy 65 of the fighters – and Clement admitted Pratt & Whitney supplies engines for the F-35.

Still, Clement said the R&D announcement will make a wide spectrum of the company's engines quieter and more fuel-efficient – not just those built for the military.

The announcement “is about R&D across the whole sphere of engines that are produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada,” Clement said. “This is a much broader announcement.”