Ministerial Transition Deck 2021

October 22, 2021

Section 1 - Who We Are

ACOA at a glance

Fueling economic growth in Atlantic Canada

Two core functions

Delivering programs and advocating for Atlantic Canada

ACOA’s mandate is twofold:

Organizational Structure

Organizational chart for Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Chart Long Description

The image depicts ACOA's organizational structure.

The top box, with a photograph of Francis P. McGuire, includes the text “ACOA President, Francis P. McGuire”. Lines connect the top box with three groups of boxes.

One line points to a single box with the text “Legal Services, Christine Calvé”.

One line points to three boxes with the note “Head Office in Moncton, New Brunswick, with a small Ottawa presence”; the following text appears in each of the three boxes: “VP Policy, Programs and Communications, Daryell Nowlan”; “VP, Finance and Corporate Services, Stéphane Lagacé”; and “Senior Advisor (Energy), Andrew Noseworthy (St. John’s, NL)”. A line from the box “VP Policy, Programs and Communications, Daryell Nowlan” connects to a box with the following note: “Ottawa office: Advocates for Atlantic Canada’s interests; Is the principal day-to-day conduit between the Minister’s Office and ACOA; ACOA lead on aerospace and defence as well as Industrial and Technological Benefits”.

One line points to four boxes with the note “Regional and local delivery offices are throughout the region”; the following text appears in each of the four boxes: “VP Newfoundland and Labrador, Karen Skinner”; “VP New Brunswick, Kent Estabrooks”; “VP Nova Scotia, Chuck Maillet”; .and “VP Prince Edward Island & Tourism, Patrick Dorsey”.

Workforce – Critical for the region

Helping to address labour shortages

Labour shortages is Atlantic Canada’s most pressing challenge, and it is a major issue for skilled and unskilled positions.

Areas of focus

Working strategically, guided by focused actions

Key areas of focus include:

To guide its investments, ACOA applies the following lenses:

Partnerships

Bringing together partners to drive economic growth

Economic context

Pre-COVID-19 economic snapshot: strengths and challenges

COVID-19 impacts and a two-speed recovery

Current core programs

Providing strategic, agile support through repayable, provisionally repayable and non-repayable contributions

Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF)

Business Development Program (BDP)

Regional Economic Growth through Innovation (REGI) (common to all regional development agencies)

Innovative Communities Fund (ICF)

Community Futures Program (CFP)

Current temporary programs

Delivering short-term initiatives

ALL INITIATIVES COMMON TO ALL REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES (except Canada Coal Transition Initiative)

Recent COVID-19 economic recovery funding initiatives

Canada Community Revitalization Fund

Tourism Relief Fund

Aerospace Regional Recovery Initiative

Jobs and Growth Fund

Other funding initiatives

Women Ecosystem Fund

National Ecosystem Fund / Black Entrepreneurship Program

Canada Coal Transition Initiative (common to ACOA and Prairies Economic Development Canada)

Program spending

Providing grants and contributions as a catalyst for growth
  Actual Expenditures Planned Expenditures
  2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024
Operations & Maintenance $73M $77M $79M $85M $80M $77M
Grants & Contributions $276M $275M $496M $377M $378M $263M
Total $349M $352M $575M $462M $458M $340M

Over the past decade (2011-2012 to 2020-2021)…

In 2021-2022: Out of $462M, $166M are temporary allocations.

It is expected that there will be a 47% decrease in grants and contributions spending by 2023-2024, compared to 2020-2021.

Results

Impacting the region’s economy

Sales and labour productivity (2013 to 2018)

Business exports, growth and R&D (2013 to 2018)

Business survival rate of ACOA-assisted firms versus non-assisted firms

The business survival rate for ACOA-assisted start-ups is 69% vs. 33% for unassisted firms after the crucial fifth year following start-up.

Graph Long Description

The graph shows that the business survival rate for start-up firms that received ACOA assistance was higher than the rate for firms that did not receive ACOA assistance. The blue line (higher), representing ACOA-assisted firms, shows a downward trend over a nine-year period, going from 93% to 52%. The orange line (lower), representing firms that did not receive ACOA assistance, shows a downward trend over a nine-year period, going from 69% to 23%.

Well positioned to deliver

Helping the government deliver on economic development initiatives

ACOA can support the Government of Canada shape policies and programs that can help drive growth in Atlantic Canada.

Rural Economic Development

Blue Economy

Automation and Digitization

Immigration

Section 2 - Possible early actions and engagement opportunities

Possible early action: Processing project applications

Outreach: Engaging with provinces and stakeholders

Redacted

Regional events

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