London Inc. Weekly

Written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc.

ITPS Canada secures new $90M credit facility

London-based International Test Pilot School Canada (ITPS Canada) announced it has secured some major new funding this week. The test pilot school, which trains military and NATO fighter pilots, has secured a $90-million credit facility, led by RBC and Export Development Canada. The funding, the company said, will help it expand its new North Bay facility, as well as adding more infrastructure to its London facility, including a new engineering building. “This facility gives us the capital foundation to expand our North Bay operations and continue meeting the evolving tactical training demands of allied air forces around the world, including our intention to introduce the M-346 into our fleet,” said CEO Dave Lohse. Back in May, ITPS ordered six M-346 fighter jets from Leonardo, an Italian fighter jet manufacturer, a move that would allow them to deliver more training for NATO fighter pilots who would go on to fly more advanced jets. Niranjan Vivekanandan, chief operating officer of commercial banking at RBC, praised ITPS and said the pilot school was “building the types of modern capabilities needed by Canada and its allies to elevate their defence readiness.” 

The upshot: Accompanying this news are details on just how quickly ITPS has grown over the past year. They’ve grown from about 95 employees a year or so ago to now having over 200, per an August profile in TechAlliance and in this week’s press release. Which is to say, our guess back in May, when we last wrote about ITPS, that they were going to be a clear beneficiary of a growing defense-industrial complex in Canada seems to be ringing true, and there seems to be no shortage of capital available to companies operating within it. “Canada is home to some of the world’s leading defence and aerospace talent and capabilities, and ITPS Canada is helping put that expertise on display globally,” said EDC senior vice president Guillermo Freire, in the ITPS press release. “We’re proud to support the company’s growth as it expands its advanced training capabilities, reaches new international customers, and strengthens the global competitiveness of Canada’s aerospace and defence sector.”

Read more: ITPS Canada

London Knights — and Mike Stubbs — jump to Classic Rock 98.1 FM

The London Knights are moving their radio broadcasts to FM radio. Knights games will now be broadcast on Classic Rock 98.1 FM, ending a decade on AM980 and putting the team on the FM side of the dial for the first time. Blackburn Media Inc., which operates 98.1 FM, signed a partnership to secure the local broadcast rights this week. Mike Stubbs, the iconic voice who has been calling Knights games for about 29 years, is making the jump as well (he will also expand his role with Blackburn to cover other local sports content). “This is incredible,” Stubbs told CBC News London. “You don’t ever want to stop and step off that ride…I just love what I’m able to do. I’m lucky, and I’m excited.” The move to a locally owned broadcaster was a selling point for the organization. “We are excited to work with a locally owned company and to continue the great tradition of delivering London Knights hockey to our fans” said vice-president and general manager Mark Hunter. “We are most excited that the voice of the London Knights, Mike Stubbs, will be a part of this new partnership, ensuring that the best in the business will still be heard by our fans for years to come.”

The upshot: This seems like a bit of a coup being pulled off by Blackburn here, snagging broadcast rights out from under Corus Radio. It’s not necessarily hard to see why the Knights organization might have been open to making a change, though: Corus has, like several other radio broadcasting companies, been on a campaign of cuts for several years now, so moving the broadcasts over to a new home might breathe some new life into it. Possibly the most unfamiliar aspect of it for some listeners, though, will be hearing a sports broadcast over FM radio, traditionally the domain of music shows. But Jon Eisler, operations manager of Classic Rock 98.1, said the move will let them improve the broadcasts. “Bringing the Knights to the FM dial will make games bigger, louder and clearer, giving fans a unique listening experience and is a natural fit with our Classic Rock audience,” Eisler said in a press release. The radio station also plans to broadcast the games via a “dedicated London Knights Radio app” it will launch next year.

Read more: CBC News London | Broadcast Dialogue

Summertime blues: Housing inventory hits record high, average price tumbles

According to the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors (LSTAR), which released data for home sales in the month of August this week, a total of 526 homes exchanged hands in the region (the LSTAR catchment area also takes in Strathroy, St. Thomas and portions of Middlesex and Elgin counties), a 14.3 per cent drop when compared to sales in August of 2025. On the supply side, a total of 1,403 new properties entered the market in August, bringing active listings (a total of all listing) for the month to 3,332, a 7.9 per cent hike from August 2025 and an all-time high for LSTAR’s inventory index, with 6.3 months of inventory recorded (a measure of how long it would take to sell all current listings at the present sales pace if no new homes were added). “The August sales-to-new listings ratio was 37.5 per cent, down from July, which came in at 44.5 per cent,” said LSTAR chair Robin Tiller. “According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, a ratio between 45 per cent and 65 per cent indicates conditions of a balanced market. The activity in August showed signs of a buyers’ market.”

The upshot: Buyers’ market indeed. Over the past few months, the area market had generally been showing some signs of stabilization, leading to an optimistic thought-stream that the post-pandemic correction had perhaps bottomed out, and the market was finally taking steps toward recovery. The August numbers have given some pause for thought, and not just from an inventory perspective — pricing also took a big dip. The average price of a resale home in August was $590,550, a 9.3 per cent fall from a year ago and a marked drop from the $603,006 recorded last month (July 2026). The question now is whether persistent economic challenges, along with the heightened tariff spat and continuation of conflict in the Middle East, will return the market to a downward gear, or if the August numbers are to be a summer one-off, and the improved affordability will shore up confidence, unlock some pent-up demand and start to drain the piled-up stock. The fall market will be interesting to watch. 

Read more: LSTAR | London Free Press

New GM deal brings promise not to sell idled CAMI plant

The 1,100 laid-off workers at GM’s shuttered CAMI plant in Ingersoll have a bit of hope that the plant may still have some life left after ratifying a three-year contract that keeps the plant open and gives it first crack at any future defense contracts GM lands. The workers of Unifor 88 in Ingersoll voted 96.5 per cent in favour of the deal, and in a bargaining report released last weekend, Unifor Local 88 quoted a commitment letter from the automaker stating “there is no intent to close or sell CAMI Assembly during the life of the agreement,” and that if the federal government awards GM a Canadian Armed Forces contract, “CAMI will be a first consideration.” Ingersoll Mayor Brian Petrie said he’d been in contact with GM Canada over the news. “This is fantastic news, especially for its workers who have been through a rough patch. We heard from GM that they love the workforce, the area. That plant is so versatile, it can pivot,” he told The London Free Press. For CAMI workers, though, the future is still uncertain. “It’s the carrot dangling in front of us. We’ll take it, because right now that’s what we have to take,” said CAMI employee Peggy Falkingham, speaking to CTV News London. “There is hope for a future. They’re not closing the doors. That is a big thing right there.”

The upshot: Getting first dibs on any military contracts that end up going to GM is a good win for workers at the plant, who were twisting in the wind as the deal was worked. It’s also a gigantic ‘if’. “The work to bring production back to CAMI is not over,” said Trevor Longpre, GM’s master bargaining chairperson. “This agreement gives our Ingersoll members a bridge until we get CAMI workers back on the job.” The next steps required to get that federal contract will be at least partly political. GM Defense Canada has been in the running for a major army contract to build the next generation of the light utility vehicles (LUVs), and GM Canada was one of the three remaining firms when, earlier this summer, the federal government eliminated two American firms from contention. However, it’s still unclear when that program will be awarded. But, hope is hope, and it’s probably the best news anyone could have hoped for out at CAMI, given the circumstances. 

Read more: London Free Press | CTV News London

LTC seeks funding boost for pilot project, fuel prices and tariff relief

London Transit Commission (LTC) wants to try something new in the city’s underserved neighbourhoods — an on-demand shuttle bus service that picks riders up and drops them at the nearest transit hub. The transit commission approved a plan to ask the city for $3.5 million in assessment-growth funding this week to launch this new on-demand service in the Fox Hollow area, as well as in pockets of south Byron and north Lambeth (at a total cost of $1.4 million), plus launching a new fixed route from Hyde Park to Western University (expected to cost around $2 million). “There’s areas of the city that have grown significantly, but we don’t know what the ridership is like,” said transit commission chair Councillor Skylar Franke. “This model [will] let us understand if there is a growing market in those neighbourhoods.” LTC general manager Kelly Paleczny said this kind of service has been “quite successful” in other jurisdictions, and would give the LTC more insight into where riders are coming from. “It really is an opportunity to get in sooner, and learn that critical information, and then hopefully when we do have the resources to put that route in, it’s going to be more successful,” Paleczny said. The on-demand bus service proposal would cost $1.4 million and serve an estimated 22,700 riders a year, city staff estimate, while the new Hyde Park-Western University route could have north of 200,000 riders per year. Council will consider the request at its next meeting in late September.

The upshot: Money for service expansion is not the only cash that the LTC is looking for right now. Separately from the funding sought for the on-demand service and new route, the LTC is asking city hall for around $2 million in additional funding to cover increased operating costs. Much, or all, of this is outside the LTC’s control: their annual budget was crafted when diesel fuel was estimated at $1.22 a litre, while the LTC finds itself buying diesel now at $1.65 a litre. Plus, there’s that most beautiful word: tariffs. The trade war with the U.S. has added about $50,000 to the cost of each new bus the LTC purchased this year (29 of them). “We are monitoring the situation, trying to be prudent and fiscally responsible, but recognizing we do need some service enhancements,” Franke told CTV News London. Overall, city politicians expressed some desire to see upper levels of government take a more active role in helping cities deal with rising operating costs like this, partly recognizing that going to the city with hat in hand is not a bulletproof strategy long-term. “It might be advantageous to us to communicate to our provincial and federal partners the pressures that rising diesel costs are putting on transit commissions and request that they consider increasing their levels of support as well,” Mayor Josh Morgan said at the commission meeting. “I think it has to be paralleled with an advocacy piece to other levels of government to recognize that these forces are beyond the control of any individual transit commission or even municipality and it’s something many are facing together.”

Read more: CTV News London | CBC News London

Heated Rivalry comes to town

The glass around the ice at Canada Life Place has probably been a little steamy this week: Heated Rivalry, arguably the hottest show of 2026, has reportedly been filming around town, including at the downtown rink. They’re definitely keeping a tight lid on filming locations, but sources told The London Free Press the film crew trucks parked outside of Canada Life Place were, in fact, attached to the queer hockey show; social media has also seen a decent amount of chatter (some of it of the “I know someone who knows a guy who knows someone’s cousin” variety…) that scenes for the show’s upcoming second season were being shot in and around town. There’s also been filming happening at Museum London and reports of scenes being shot in Wortley Village. As for what else is known, the answer is…not much. According to the Free Press, everyone involved in the production was required to sign non-disclosure agreements. It will, in the eyes of some, right a great wrong: London was apparently in the running as a location for the first season but lost out due to what CTV News London described as “timing and communication challenges.” 

The upshot: It is not a stretch to say there are few shows whose sophomore seasons are more hotly anticipated than Heated Rivalry right now. Cities across Ontario have been practically begging the show to come to town, in part because filming locations become hot attractions (and, of interest to the locations themselves, pilgrimage destinations) for the legions of mega-fans out there. (For instance: January 29 is, officially, “Shane Hollander Day” in Ottawa.) So yes, the show coming to London and filming could be a pretty big deal, and a major W in the column for Film London in terms of attracting the production to town. Filming at the rink also raises the possibility that we could see Canada Life Place ice on screen, which would be fun, too — Jacob Tierney, director of the show, also directed the Canadian TV show Shoresy, and has a knack for directing on-ice hockey scenes, whether there’s kissing involved or not. 

Read more: London Free Press

Dispatch: September 4, 2026

A summary of recent business appointments and announcements, plus event listings for the upcoming week.

View listings here

MORE FROM LONDON INC.