In 2009, I filed access-to-information requests to each regional economic development agency asking how they implemented “Economic Action Plan” funds provided to them. Here's some notes from some of the records provided to me through that ATI request from ACOA:
[Notes from ACOA ATI request A-2009-0012, Partial release of records made Feb. 2, 2011]
- The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency was given authority, through Budget 2009, to spend $100.4 million in the Fiscal 2010 and Fiscal 2011 out of the $1 billion Community Adjustment Fund (CAF).
- ACOA says that, in Nova Scotia, it turned to the province for advice on where to spend this money, specifically to Nova Scotia's Department of Rural and Economic Development, to various regional development authorities, and then to resource-focused provincial government departments such as the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the NS Dept of Natural Resources
- “52% of PEI businesses have less than 5 employees, and 75% have less than 10.” (p 376)
- Projects in Halifax were excluded from CAF eligibility: “HRM (Halifax Regional Municipality) is the only region of the province not eligible for the program. This results from the program eligibility requirement that a community can be considered if its population is 250,000 or less and the fact that all HRM is one community. The result is that a number of rural areas within the municipality will be excluded despite the perception among many in these areas that they should fit – rural in nature, a distance from the urban core, and the local economy affected by the downturn in resource industries.” (p 428)
- ACOA officials note that there is much greater demand for CAF assistance than there is funds available.
- When it comes to forestry industry assistance, ACOA officals are concerned that it appear that both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are being treated fairly by the federal government. But ACOA also notes that, in deciding where it will apply federal funding in the sector, it will be important that ACOA funding does not merely “displace existing provincial funding.” Finally: ACOA says federal funding of the forestry sector should be provided on a matching basis to provincial funding. (p 502)
- In correspondence dated May 5, 2009, ACOA President Monique Collette recommended to Minister Ketih Ashfield the following (dollar figures have been blacked out by ACOA ATI censors):
- “That ACOA/ECBC proceed with developing a XXX million silviculture project with DNR. The benefits of this effort are many…and go a long way to addressing the objective of the CAF.”
- On August 27, 2009, the federal and provincial governments announced a $14 million investment in Nova Scotia's forestry sector, half coming from ACOA and Enterprise Cape Breton (another federal agency) and half from the provincial government.
- As of June 2009, ACOA assistance to the Atlantic Canadian forestry sector since 1998 totals $76 million. (p 515)
- “In total, the forest industry contributes an estimated 4.5% to Atlantic Canada's GDP, produces the most significant source of export earnings after the energy sector ($3.1 billion in 2007) and employs about 28,500 people around the region, about 70% of whom live in rural areas.” (p 517)
- Of the $100 million or so ACOA received for CAF projects, it set aside $8 million for the lobster industry. (p 521)
- ACOA officials believe the $8 million would best be spent on finding new markets for lobster products. In July 2009, ACOA is pushing for the creation for a single national industry voice to co-ordinate programs and encourage industry diversification, something they wish to call the “Canadian Lobster Council”
- Sure enough, by October 2009, the governments of Quebec, Canada and the four Atlantic Canada provinces have agreed to create the Lobster Council of Canada.
- Budget 2009 creates the $500 million Recreational Infrastructure Fund (RiNC). ACOA's allocation from this fund is $12 million over two years. A subsequent undated memo (p. 1057) says Atlantic Canada's RiNC allocation is $34.7 million.
- As for RiNC: “Projects that may be considered include the rehabilitation of a football field at a University as well as the redevelopment of a race track in a local town. ACOA has adopted a performance measurement strategy that will enable the Agency to respond to Treasury Board reporting requirements.”
- Budget 2009 created the $500 million Building Canada – Communities Component. ACOA program officers say the Atlantic Region's share of the fund was snapped up almost immediately: “In Atlantic Canada, the initial allocation represented $148.33M and is expected to be fully committed by the end of 2009. Early indications from some of our regional offices state that the top-up allocation will be accessed as soon as summer or fall of 2009.” (p 1043)