2015-16 Departmental Performance Report - ministers’ message and section I

ACOA is a partner in the Government of Canada’s High Impact Firm Initiative announced in Budget 2016 and is developing a pipeline of high-potential firms to help feed future phases of this national initiative.

ACOA has also developed its approach and immediate actions to substantially increase its expenditures in clean technology starting in 2016-17.^[10]

An action plan to promote awareness and use of the Agency’s innovation programming was implemented in 2015-16. This plan involved an integrated approach, with a focus on client innovation needs, drawing on programs as needed. It included frequent and coordinated outreach and the launch of a promotional campaign targeting Atlantic Canadian businesses, entrepreneurs, universities, colleges and research institutions, to increase awareness of the importance of innovation and of how ACOA’s programs can help.

In 2015-16, the Agency approved $52.6 million toward 164 innovation and commercialization projects. These projects helped Atlantic Canadian SMEs improve their productivity and competitive position by allowing them to develop new products, services or processes, gain efficiencies, reduce production costs, acquire skills, leverage additional private-sector investments, or commercialize their ideas. Examples include the following:

• supporting R&D activities through a $1.7 million contribution to Dynamic Air Shelters Ltd. of Grand Bank, N.L., which is developing wide-span, air-inflated, pneumatic fabric structures to withstand extreme conditions/loads for temporary and semi-permanent installations; and
• providing support for Island Water Technologies Incorporated, of Montague, P.E.I., to complete R&D and validation of a modular energy-independent waste-water treatment system designed specifically for rural and remote population clusters, powered entirely by renewable energy sources, permitting off-grid operation. Island Water was recently the successful recipient of funding from the federal Build in Canada Innovation Program.

In addition to direct funding to SMEs, the Agency supported not-for-profit organizations that increase the adoption of innovative practices among SMEs. These are two examples:

• Provide support to the Catalyst Innovation Pilot Project delivered by Enterprise Saint John, where one participating company solved a challenge that it estimates is worth approximately $5 million in additional revenue annually.
• Invest in the region’s innovation and commercialization ecosystem with a $500,000 contribution to Volta Labs Incorporated, of Halifax, N.S., an information and communications technology business incubator.

The Agency approved $67.3 million for 501 projects that contributed to the productivity and growth of SMEs in Atlantic Canada, including projects related to technology acquisition, expansion and modernization, domestic marketing, productivity and business skills, and business support. Examples include:

• supporting the Sobey School Business Development Centre in offering the High Growth Essentials program to growth-oriented businesses across Atlantic Canada, focusing on topics such as marketing, finance and human resources as they relate to business growth. This program impacted 278 businesses from a variety of sectors across the Atlantic provinces through training and coaching; and
• delivering on Government of Canada priorities such as broadband service in rural communities, where ACOA is supporting Seaside Communications Inc. with $2 million in funding for the expansion and enhancement of Internet technologies in rural and remote areas of Nova Scotia. This complements ISED’s Connecting Canadians program.

ACOA assisted businesses through trade missions, marketing, training, networking and planning supports in order for them to expand into the global marketplace by approving $13.8 million for 124 international business development projects. Examples include:

• providing $373,500 in support for the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation to lead four international business development missions with 14 companies. Funding covered pre‑market preparedness training, matchmaking services and business-to-business meetings to capitalize on strategic opportunities in select international markets; and
• working with a Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC) in New Brunswick to support the Strategic Export Marketing Program. This project provided an opportunity for eight New Brunswick mining supply companies with exportable products or services to develop marketing tools and strategies to compete internationally, thus strengthening their export capabilities.

• a partnership with the New Brunswick Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour to establish business incubators for francophone immigrants in Edmundston and Bathurst. These incubators will attract immigrants and business investment in northern New Brunswick;
• providing assistance to the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, in partnership with Dalhousie University, to develop hatchery support for oyster aquaculture in disease-impacted regions of the province. Based on successful research in the United States, a breeding program is being developed using local oysters to provide seed stock and re‑establish the oyster industry in Cape Breton while protecting the industry in other regions of Nova Scotia;
• supporting the Central Development Corporation Ltd.’s upgrade and renovation of a 13,000 square foot unit in an existing multi-tenant facility located in the Borden-Carleton Business Park to accommodate the food manufacturing sector. The proposed infrastructure improvements resulted in economic benefits stemming from the maintenance of 18 positions and the addition of up to 15 new ones at the facility, located in rural Prince Edward Island;
• supporting a project by Memorial University’s Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development to organize and host an Arctic Forum. The inaugural forum brought together leading national and international expertise to discuss challenges and opportunities associated with Arctic and northern development. It also provided an opportunity for senior leaders in government, business, academia and the community to explore and discuss the theme of social licence to operate and preparedness to undertake responsible resource development in the Arctic. It is envisioned that the forum will be held annually and will alternate between Canada and Norway. The first forum was held in October 2015 on Fogo Island, N.L; and
• providing support to LearnSphere Canada Inc. in Fredericton, to coordinate a bilingual program offering practical business management skills training to New Brunswick-based SMEs. ProfitLearn provides training in the areas of marketing, human resources, strategic planning, management and operations, financial management and business leadership. This project will enable ProfitLearn to deliver approximately 50 group training activities and 120 hours of consulting, and offer a customized program to 10 SMEs as a pilot program.

The Agency assisted in addressing the challenges faced by industry sectors such as tourism that have seen fluctuations in the global market and helped prepare strategies to grow those sectors. Examples include:

• renewing the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership (ACTP), an international tourism marketing agreement that positions Atlantic Canada as a leading leisure travel destination in high-potential, high-yield markets. The ACTP enables the Government of Canada, the four Atlantic Provinces and the tourism industry to pool resources and make it easier to penetrate markets. The ACTP is an important component of ACOA’s Growth Strategy for Tourism and directly supports the Federal Tourism Strategy’s priority of “Inspiring the world to explore Canada”;
• funding for Georgetown, P.E.I., through the Strategic Tourism Expansion Program (STEP). The STEP process has significantly improved the communication and collaboration of community partners in the Georgetown area. Progress has been made through Georgetown joining the Atlantic Canada Cruise Ship Association; commissioning and advancing the recommendations of a report on attracting small-cruise-ship traffic; developing and implementing a spatial plan to determine developmental opportunities; improving signage and promotional materials to better promote and market Georgetown as a tourism destination; and creating Destination Georgetown Peninsula, a non-profit tourism promotion organization; and
• partnering with the Nunatsiavut Government to implement a two-year strategic marketing plan for the Torngat Mountains Base Camp and Research Station. Located in northern Labrador, this unique northern adventure tourism destination and gateway to Torngat Mountains National Park was designated one of the Canadian Signature Experiences by the Canadian Tourism Commission. It is also considered a Northern Iconic Experience, which is promoted by Parks Canada at national and international events. This exceptional adventure-tourism product provides economic benefits to the region through job creation and other economic spinoffs.

In 2015-16, the CBDCs continued to provide an essential source of investment capital focused on rural businesses as well as business counselling and skills development. The CBDCs assisted 1,440 businesses through their investment fund by approving 1,550 loans, representing a total direct investment in local SMEs of $72.5 million. These investments contributed to the creation of 1,785 new jobs in rural communities in Atlantic Canada.

ACOA collaborated with the CBDCs to enhance their contribution toward rural businesses by offering 190 consulting advisory services sessions for a total cost of $1.3 million. Under the Seed Capital Initiative, ACOA supported five urban organizations that provided 148 loans valued at $1.6 million to young entrepreneurs.

ACOA worked closely with Indigenous leadership, Atlantic provincial governments and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada to complement the work being done in the region with respect to Indigenous economic development. In 2015-16, ACOA supported 28 projects with contributions of more than $4.4 million for Indigenous economic development. For example, ACOA assisted Indigenous communities to improve their access to capital financing through the Ulnooweg Development Group. Ulnooweg assisted Indigenous businesses through its investment fund by approving 38 loans, representing a total direct investment of $2.6 million. This investment contributed to the creation of 54 new jobs in communities in Atlantic Canada.

The Agency continued to engage with the OLMCs and provided $19.6 million in assistance for 91 projects throughout Atlantic Canada, including projects under the Economic Development Initiative of the Roadmap for Canada’s Official Languages 2013‑2018: Education, Immigration, Communities. Projects enhancing the vitality of the economy in the OLMCs were approved in all four Atlantic provinces, from developing a tourism guide for Newfoundland and Labrador to growing the translation industry in Atlantic Canada.

The Agency engaged with business networks to develop policy research focused on SMEs in the region, including:

• through research and analysis, which allowed ACOA to highlight opportunities for the lobster processing industry to improve access to growth markets and increase productivity to help companies take full advantage of the rising global demand for seafood; and
• by coordinating a federal-provincial working group in Nova Scotia to study and develop a better understanding of the province’s waste resources so that the economic potential of alternative bioresources could be better quantified and to develop insights as to how the amount of waste entering Nova Scotia landfills could be reduced.

The Agency engaged stakeholders, SMEs and communities to prepare them to take advantage of potential opportunities related to the implementation of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Examples include:

• supporting a research project with the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce focused on identifying and facilitating access to the European Union for Atlantic businesses;
• supporting a research project with the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council to increase knowledge of opportunities and challenges presented by CETA; and
• hosting the second edition of the business program under the Canada-France Regional Joint Cooperation Commission between Atlantic Canada and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon to discuss business opportunities in preparation for CETA.

ACOA advocated on behalf of Atlantic Canadian SMEs to promote their capacity to take advantage of opportunities associated with global markets and upcoming major projects, as well as advocating to ensure that federal policies and programs took into consideration Atlantic Canadian competitiveness issues. Examples include:

• hosting a Round Table on Innovation and Clean Tech in Halifax that included government, business and community leaders involved in the development and commercialization of innovative products and processes; and
• assisting in the development of a foreign trade zone task force for Sydney, N.S., that will provide single-window access to information on relevant policies and programs at all levels of government.

Stakeholders were engaged through various strategies to maximize industrial benefits related to the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the Defence Procurement Strategy. For example, Trade Team PEI partners hosted a Doing Business in the Marine Sector symposium in July 2015 with five participating firms from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands joining local firms in the marine technology sector. The goal of the symposium was to offer practical advice on how to succeed in this sector. ACOA made a presentation on Federal Procurement and the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

The Atlantic Federal Council, chaired by the Agency’s president, engaged senior federal officials on Atlantic priorities and connected its members with central agencies on issues of national importance.

ACOA supported the Government of Canada’s engagement on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Regional Development Policy Committee (RDPC) and the Working Party on Rural Policy. ACOA continues to chair the RDPC, to officially represent Canada on the Working Party on Rural Policy, and to work with Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions in its role as Canada’s representative on the RDPC. A key deliverable was ensuring a strong Canadian presence at the May 2015 OECD Rural Development Conference in Memphis, Tenn.

The Agency continued its focus on employee engagement and the continued use of employee-driven process improvement. Employee engagement committees have been active throughout the year in all four regional offices and at head office.

The Agency worked collaboratively with the other RDAs, ISED and other federal departments through various sector groups to exchange information and best practices in areas such as risk and evaluation as well as on the new common grants and contributions management system that will help the RDAs further achieve a whole-of-government approach.

ACOA enhances its Human Resources practices on an ongoing basis by emphasizing employee learning and development through the continued use of individual learning plans and participation in the new enterprise-wide approach to learning from the Canada School of Public Service. The Agency also supported the implementation of central agency policy instruments such as the Performance Agreement module of the Executive Talent Management system and promoted the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Directive on Performance Management, resulting once again in strong results for the Agency, with a completion rate of more than 95.0 per cent in 2015-16. In addition, the Agency implemented a new Official Languages Action Plan (2016-19), which continues to focus on raising employees’ awareness of the Official Languages Act and their rights and responsibilities relating to official languages, as well as a new Employment Equity and Diversity Action Plan (2015-20), including activities and objectives such as raising employee awareness and encouraging an environment that embraces cultural diversity, employment equity and a respectful workplace. The Agency also collaborated with the Public Service Commission to prepare for the implementation of the New Direction in Staffing.

ACOA ensured appropriate mitigation of the Agency’s key risks. It promoted and strengthened risk management and results-based management capacity and culture within the organization by ensuring that risk management was integrated into the Agency’s planning and decision-making processes.

The implementation of ACOA’s Values and Ethics Strategy supported the objective of ensuring that values and ethics remain at the foundation of the Agency’s corporate culture and promote open dialogue at all levels of the Agency.

ACOA supported key elements of SSC’s information technology transformation agenda. For example, the Agency was the first SSC partner to adopt the new government e-mail system in July 2015. The lessons learned from ACOA’s migration were shared with the SSC and the system vendor, and were used to optimize processes for other departmental rollouts. ACOA also collaborated with SSC operational teams to decommission and upgrade end-of-support servers running the Windows 2003 operating system. This work resulted in improved system performance and security for the Agency. Finally, in collaboration with the SSC, and in support of its Telecommunications Transformation Program, ACOA undertook a comprehensive site analysis to identify requirements for implementing Wi-Fi service to meet increasing mobility requirements.