Weekly Regional Business Intelligence | | | Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc. | | | Aspire Food Group cricket farm sold to new owner Aspire Food Group’s once-promising industrial cricket factory was quietly sold out of receivership last month. In late September, provincial courts approved a deal to sell the assets of Aspire Food Group to Halali Group Holdings. David Rosenberg, who came in as the CEO of Aspire in 2023, told AgFunder News that the sale was “effectively a negotiated solution with the bank, with a funding structure that will allow us to operate under COO Gabe Mott.” Rosenberg also said he was “moving on, but will still be involved in an advisory role.” The new owner said it intends to try and find a commercial tenant for the London facility, “so that it will continue to be used for industrial purposes, including, potentially, the insect agriculture business.” The upshot: The cricket farm has taken us all on quite a journey, from the initial pandemic-era enthusiasm for its launch, to right-wing conspiracy theories that Justin Trudeau was planning on making us all eat bugs, to willies-inducing reports of “crickets everywhere” as the plant struggled to adapt their tech to the new plant. The word boondoggle also comes to mind, especially considering the $35 million in taxpayer funding that was pumped into the plant through various funding streams (amounting to about 25 per cent of the overall funding). Was it the best bet, given there is virtually no proven market for crickets in North America outside of pet food? Who’s to say. “You can always be the Monday morning quarterback,” Rosenberg told AgFunder News. Read more: AgFunder News | Farmers Forum | | | Hammerco Lawyers expands to London Hammerco Lawyers, a Vancouver-based law firm, has tapped local class action litigator Sabrina Lombardi to lead a new London-based office. The boutique class action litigation firm will open its new office on December 1, and Lombardi will be joined by associate lawyer Chanèle Rioux-McCormick and law clerk Martha Edwards to launch the expansion. “This is an energizing step for Hammerco and a natural progression for our firm,” said Hammerco managing partner Morgyn Chandler. “Sabrina and her team are leaders in class actions, and their experience and reputation further elevate our capabilities in this area. This expansion allows us to deepen our national presence and open the door for future growth while broadening our class action practice and continuing to deliver exceptional results for the people, businesses, and communities we serve.” The upshot: London arguably punches above its weight when it comes to class action law — a few years ago, we profiled the Siskinds LLP class action team, which described London as “the hub of civil price fixing enforcement in Canada.” Lombardi, who is leaving McKenzie Lake Lawyers, is no stranger to this, and has led high-stakes domestic and multijurisdictional class actions against some of the largest players in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and automotive sectors. “I was drawn to Hammerco by its stellar reputation, client-first approach, and incredible legal talent,” Lombardi said in a press release. “I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues and contributing to the firm’s class action practice, helping them expand into Ontario and support more clients in navigating these complex legal challenges.” Read more: Newswire | | | GDLS-Canada partners with BAE Systems to develop Arctic troop carrier General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-Canada) is partnering with British multinational aerospace, arms and information security company BAE Systems, hoping to secure a major federal contract to supply the Canadian military’s Arctic fleet with the Beowulf, a dual-body vehicle designed for troop and equipment movement. “Arctic capability is critical for Canada, and the Beowulf will drive both current and future strategic objectives due to its ability to operate in extreme temperatures and unforgiving landscapes,” said BAE Systems’ managing director Tommy Gustafsson-Rask. GDLS-Canada’s role in the partnership will primarily be in-service support, by the sounds of it. “With nearly 50 years of working closely with the Canadian Armed Forces in complex project delivery and in-service support we will ensure that the platform remains supported and relevant wherever it is stationed,” said general manager of GDLS-Canada Dave Haggerty. “Our diverse military expertise and familiarity with customer needs will deliver made-in-Canada features tailored to national requirements.” The upshot: It’s not entirely clear how the manufacturing of this would shake out, and whether the vehicle itself would be manufactured in London — BAE Systems said in a press release that the vehicle would be built on their platform, which is currently manufactured in Sweden. The big contract they’re eyeing is the Canadian Armed Forces’ Domestic Arctic Mobility Enhancement project, a $250- to $500-million contract to replace the aging vehicles currently nearing the end of their life cycle. Earlier in the year, GDLS-Canada was appealing to the feds for more military orders, and in June laid off a small number of employees citing low workload, so this should help if this vehicle ends up winning the contract — which won’t be awarded until 2027, with the fleet hoping to be operational by 2030. Read more: BAE Systems | London Free Press | | | YXU ramps up winter flights, adds seasonal Winnipeg route London International Airport has started its annual suite of winter flights, with Air Transat winter service to the Dominican Republic and Mexico starting to fly earlier this month, and Sunwing flights to Cancun, Punta Cana, Cayo Coco and Varadero set to start next month. On top of that, the airport announced an expanded roster of flights next summer, adding a thrice-weekly flight between London and Winnipeg starting in May and running until September. “Winnipeg was the first destination that WestJet served out of London,” said Scott McFadzean, president and CEO of London International Airport. “It’s great to see these popular flights return and offer more convenient travel options for our region.” WestJet’s senior airport affairs manager Mike Perkins said the new Winnipeg route “strengthens connections across central Canada, making it easier for families to reunite, communities to grow closer, and local economies to thrive.” The upshot: Some new destinations might help give some patriotic snowbirds a few new ideas for where to fly these days, given that us Canadians and our boycotting ways are apparently punching a US$5.7-billion hole in the American tourism economy. It remains to be seen whether this appetite for staycations will last into 2026, but for now it’s good news for local travelers. “We know Londoners are eager for more destinations and we hear you,” said Gerry Vanderhoek, YXU’s director of commercial and air services in a press release. “We’re working closely with the airlines to make that happen. The return of Winnipeg flights is a great step forward.” Read more: YXU | London Free Press | | | Labour market board expects seasonal job decline If you’re looking for a short-term holiday gig this year, you might have a tough time finding one. Data from the Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning and Development Board suggests that part-time job availability in October was down six per cent compared to last year. “This is the first time in over a year that we started to see fewer jobs compared to last year,” the agency’s executive director Petrusia Hontar told The London Free Press. Paul Hubert, CEO at Pathways Employment Help Centre, said that the results weren’t all that surprising, with businesses taking a conservative approach to hiring, and are leaning on offering more hours to existing staff. “Stores tend not to ramp up as much as they used to,” he said. “Our experience is that there are more job seekers than there are jobs right now.” The upshot: It’s a bit of a paradoxical finding here, because part-time jobs were basically driving all of Canada’s job growth in October — there were 85,000 new part-time jobs added last month. And data from Indeed suggests holiday hiring has actually increased this year, with 12 per cent more listings for season, holiday or Christmas jobs this year compared to last. “2024 was especially weak on the holiday posting side, which, combined with a decent year for retail sales, could be some factors driving (the uptick),” said Indeed’s senior economist Brendon Bernard, speaking to the Financial Post. “So, it’s not like the market is robust, but there’s a bit of a bounce back in 2025 and that’s something I wasn’t necessarily expecting when I first took a look at the data.” Read more: London Free Press | Financial Post | | | New AI-assisted radiation therapy system at LHSC a “gamechanger” The London Health Sciences Centre has a new AI-assisted radiation therapy system that doctors are calling a “gamechanger.” The Varian Ethos system (one of four in Canada) completes body scans in as little as eight seconds, and the AI-powered software helps speed up the analysis of the scans. “It’s been fantastic,” said Dr. Steward Gaede, the chief medical physicist at LHSC. “We’re implemented real-time adaptive therapy for prostate and bladder cancers, and we’re moving into head, neck and breast cancers as well.” Gaede told CTV News London the technology will “help us increase efficiency, decrease wait times and still provide precise and accurate radiation therapy with lower side effects.” The upshot: The bottom line, Gaede said, is LHSC can now treat an additional 10 to 20 patients per day, with that number potentially increasing as they expand it to more cancer types. That will be welcome news as wait times for cancer patients in Canada remain an issue — according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, imaging wait times for CT scans are three days longer than they were in 2019. Gaede says it will also make life easier on patients as they go through treatment. “[It] gives us an opportunity to pursue new treatment approaches that better spare healthy tissuer and treat the tumour itself. That means better outcomes and fewer side effects,” Gaede said. Read more: CTV News London | LHSC | | | Dispatch: November 21, 2025 A summary of recent business appointments and announcements, plus event listings for the upcoming week. View listings here | | | | |