Transcript of the news conference following the AGS Leadership Committee meeting on July 25, 2022

 

DATE: July 25, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. ADT

LOCATION: Avalon – Salon A, Delta Hotels by Marriott St. John's Conference Centre, 120 New Gower St., ST. JOHN’S, NL

PRINCIPALS: Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Dominic LeBlanc; Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) Ginette Petitpas Taylor; and Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Andrew Furey

SUBJECT: Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Andrew Furey hold a news conference following a meeting of the Atlantic Growth Strategy Leadership Committee.

 

Moderator: Bienvenue. Welcome to this announcement, news conference following the Atlantic Growth Strategy Leadership Committee meeting. Bienvenue à tous et à toutes qui sont dans la salle. And we, of course, are broadcasting on ACOA’s Facebook accounts, French and English. Donc on dit la bienvenue, on souhaite la bienvenue à ceux et celles qui se joignent à nous à partir des médias sociaux. We will begin with a  few statements from members of the Leadership Committee et ensuite il y aura une période de questions qui suivra.

So it is my great pleasure to begin by welcoming the Honourable Andrew Furey, Premier of Newfoundland-and-Labrador.

Andrew Furey: Well, thank you so much and thanks everybody for joining us. I want to take this opportunity now to thank all the ministers and premiers for taking the time out of their busy schedule, and summer time at that, to come to what Minister LeBlanc referred to as Palm Springs North. It’s always like this, the weather here, of course. But on a more serious note, it was an incredible meeting that allowed us to truly recognize the challenges but, more importantly, the opportunities that face Atlantic Canadians.

And I think it’s opportunities that were reflected in discussions on the economic opportunities, the immigration opportunities, the opportunities for growth and the opportunities to be large players in the energy transition. I can speak, I think, on behalf of the entire table when I say there was significant alignment and collaboration, and I think that the collaboration and alignment strategically and from a visionary perspective is one that is perhaps unique across Canada and unique certainly at this time and space, because it is Atlantic Canada’s time.

It's Atlantic Canada’s time to lead the rest of the country for growth, for green transition, for economic growth, for social capacity. We have everything that we need here in Atlantic Canada. We have critical minerals. We have access to green renewable power and, of course, we have the people. I think everybody at this table recognizes that there are challenges ahead but there is immense reason for hope and optimism. Not for us but for every one of you at home, Atlantic Canadians. We hear you. We know that there are struggles, but let me tell you, across this table there is equal immense opportunity to continue to lead the country as we emerge from the pandemic. As we emerge from this time of disruption, we will capture the hearts and souls of the rest of Canada. Thank you so much.

Hon. Dominic LeBlanc: Andrew, thank you. Merci beaucoup. Merci pour ton hospitalité.

(translation begins) Thank you for your hospitality (translation ends) Thank you for having us in the great province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Comme le premier ministre vient de dire, en tant que (translation begins) As the Premier just said, as the economic engine and hub for innovation in trade and tourism in the Atlantic, but also in Canada, St. John’s is a model for many of the goals we set when we launched the Atlantic Growth Strategy five years ago (translation ends).

It’s great to be here today, as the Premier said, in St. John’s in the great province of Newfoundland-and-Labrador for our first in-person meeting since 2019 with our colleagues, premiers King, Higgs, Houston, and alongside my federal Cabinet colleagues, Minister Petitpas Taylor, Fraser, MacAulay, Hutchings and O’Regan.

In 2016, we, as political leaders in Atlantic Canada, set out with a targeted and ambitious action plan to accelerate economic growth in Atlantic Canada by focusing on key common priorities, stimulating the regional economy, supporting innovation and resource-based industries, and increasing and creating job opportunities for Atlantic Canadians.

Au cours des dernières années, nous avons réalisé (translation begins) In the last several years, we have made significant progress on each of the Strategy’s pillars: trade and investment, innovation, clean growth and climate change, skilled workforce and immigration, and obviously infrastructure as well. The value of exports in the Atlantic Region has increased by 34 percent, and we created as part of the economy in the Atlantic provinces, we created over 18,000 jobs in 17 months (translation ends).

Atlantic Canada has attracted and retained nearly 22,000 newcomers and welcomed 1.7 million international visitors to this region, contributing as the Premier noted, to the strength of the Atlantic economy. Et nous avons bonifié nos investissements en infrastructure (translation begins) And we enhanced our infrastructure investments so that more than 130 rural and remote communities could have high-speed internet access (translation ends). Concerning clean power and technology, we released the Clean Power Roadmap to chart a path forward to a net-zero electricity grid, invested $286 million in clean energy projects and we’re actively advancing discussions on the Atlantic Loop to develop as part of a broader regional energy strategy a competitive electrified economy.

Et comme conclusion (translation begins) And finally, during the pandemic, our government, the Government of Canada, also scaled up investments in support of public transit and health care funding to keep Canadians safe and make our country more resilient. (translation ends). As the Premier said, our meeting today, the 2022 Atlantic Growth Strategy meeting, allowed us to come together to discuss our current shared priorities and we believe create a path forward on how we can continue to work together to create good jobs for our fellow Atlantic Canadians, strengthen local economies and grow innovation and energy opportunities in our region. So with that, I’ll ask my colleague Ginette Petitpas Taylor who co-chaired today’s meeting to offer a few comments. Ginette.

Hon. Ginette Petitpas Taylor: Merci beaucoup, Dominic. Premièrement je tiens à (translation begins) Thank you, Dominic. First, I am pleased to be here today to participate in this meeting with my federal and provincial colleagues. I would like to thank Premier Furey for his warm welcome. Thank you very much. We have worked very hard, but we also had fun. (translation ends) As we discussed during our meeting, international trade and foreign direct investments are important generators of economic growth in Atlantic Canada. Simply put, when Atlantic Canadian firms sell goods and services in other countries, they have more than just one domestic market for their sales. They can think beyond just one season for their operations. They can grow. Growth occurs when private investments from foreign companies are used to establish operational presence in the region. La croissance qui provient du commerce ---

(translation begins) Growth from international trade and investment means more and often better paid jobs, which allows local businesses to attract the best talent. This creates a cycle of innovation, diversification and expansion, and ultimately sustainable economic growth. This means wealth for us as well as stronger local communities as we navigate this post-pandemic recovery period. (translation ends) There is no doubt that COVID-19 was a major disruption impacting the region’s trade activities.

For example, commodity exports in the region fell by 22.5% in 2020. Our respective levels of government reacted quickly, pivoting to ensure Atlantic Canadian exporters could continue to do their business digitally to build capacity in the face of global restrictions to travel and distribution.

De cette façon, nous avons aidé les petites et les moyennes entreprises (translation begins) As such, we helped small and medium businesses to incorporate the technologies and processes they needed to take full advantage of how COVID has altered the global market. The initial results show that the region’s exports are picking up. In 2021, Atlantic exports grew by 7% compared to 2019. Some sectors, such as seafood, had record exports last year.  (translation ends).

Adopting digital solutions helped businesses adapt but continued economic recovery in Atlantic Canada will also depend on the ability of firms to diversify their markets and take advantage of free-trade agreements, find solutions to labour market challenges, address barriers to inclusive trade for companies led by under-represented groups, address supply-chain risks and foster resilience. These are big undertakings but are vital to our small and medium-sized businesses, and they won’t face them alone.

Le gouvernement du Canada par l’intermédiaire de (translation begins) The Government of Canada, through ACOA, has once again demonstrated its commitment to helping the area’s entrepreneurs respond to the changing global context and to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. (translation ends).

Today, I am happy to announce that we are helping the region’s entrepreneurs with an updated trade and investment growth strategy and renewed Atlantic Trade Investment Growth Agreement, also known as ATIGA. Je suis convaincue que ces investissements augmenteront le nombre d’entreprises (translation begins) I am confident that these investments will increase the number of Atlantic businesses participating in international trade activities, enhance their capacity for strategic access to new international markets and maintain or expand their market activities, as well as reinforce the region’s ability to attract direct foreign investment. (translation ends).

I know that through the collaboration among the Government of Canada, our four Atlantic governments, and the region’s small and medium-sized businesses, we will increase international trade and foreign investment activities, positioning Atlantic Canada for great things. I'm now going to turn it over to Minister Fraser, Minister for Immigration.

Hon. Sean Fraser: Thanks very much, folks. It’s a pleasure to be here. Premier Furey, thank you for your hospitality and hosting us. You know, one of the things that I’m thrilled with over the course of our conversations yesterday and today is the ambition that we’ve collectively got to bring more people to our region. You know, it’s not lost on me that when I first got involved in politics, the big issues in my own community were the closure of a local elementary school and the loss of a mental health unit at the largest regional hospital in the community that the Premier and I share.

Today, the bigger challenges that we have tend to focus on whether we can build houses quickly enough to help resettle so many people that are either moving home or coming to our communities for the first time. Now, it’s a good problem to have, but it’s still a real challenge because when I look at the opportunities and the challenges when it comes to growing our population, we’re dealing with an economy that is running real hot but across Canada that has about 900,000 job vacancies.

About 100% of our population growth is coming from immigration today, and we can’t fill these jobs in the economy with the domestic labour force. At the same time, the demographics of our region in Atlantic Canada are quickly becoming a challenge. In the 1970s, we had about seven workers for every retiree. Today, that number is closer to three and 20 years from now, we are on pace to have maybe two and some of our provinces are already more or less there.

By continuing to collaborate with our partners you see sitting at this table to advance measures such at the Atlantic Immigration Program to grow our population, to work to provide more predictable timelines for employers and to use new and innovative measures, including potential considerations to have people who are here temporarily now have the ability to start working more in our communities. We’re going to be able to meet the short-term needs of our economy but as importantly protect against that worrying demographic trend of an aging population.

From my perspective, this is a golden opportunity. Canada has become the world’s top destination for workers who are located anywhere in the world over the last couple of years. And to see us embrace the moment to grow our population at the same time we’re not just focusing on economic migration but resettling some of the world’s most vulnerable. And some of the premiers at this table have been absolute leaders when it comes to the resettlement of Afghan refugees and more recently Ukrainians. And I want to extend a huge thank you because we’re realizing very quickly that our newcomers are arriving with a whole lot more than the contents of their suitcase, filling jobs in our communities and making a meaningful difference.

So a huge thank you to my friends and colleagues seated at this table. Together we’re going to continue to grow our population and get workers to businesses as quickly as possible. Thank you.