Agreement to amend the Canada -New Brunswick Labour Market Development Agreement

Between

The Government of Canada, hereinafter referred to as “Canada,” represented by the Minister of Employment and Social Development styled as the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, and the Canada Employment Insurance Commission

And

The Government of New Brunswick, hereinafter referred to as “New Brunswick”, represented by the Minister of Post-Secondary Education Hereinafter referred to as “the Parties”

Preamble

Whereas the Parties concluded the Canada-New Brunswick Labour Market Development Agreement (“Canada-New Brunswick LMDA”) on December 13, 1996;

Whereas the New Brunswick forest industry and related sectors are currently facing important economic adjustments which have resulted in significant negative impacts on Canadian jobs and workers;

Whereas, given the unique nature of the situation in New Brunswick, Canada is prepared to provide a time-limited increase to the federal contribution to the costs of provincial benefits and measures in New Brunswick for fiscal year 2017-2018 under the LMDA to support workers that are directly or indirectly affected by these economic adjustments in New Brunswick.

Therefore, the Parties agree to amend the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA, as amended from time to time, as follows:

1. The Canada-New Brunswick LMDA is amended by adding the following, after section 7.6:
   
   “7.7 The Parties agree that results measurement and reporting related to the increase of funding provided under section 13C for fiscal year 2017-2018, will be consistent with the process described in Annex 5.”
2. The Canada-New Brunswick LMDA is amended by adding the following heading and section after section 13B:
   
   “Targeted Time-Limited Increase in Contribution to Costs of Provincial Benefits and Measures
   
   13C Notwithstanding anything in section 13, in fiscal year 2017-2018, Canada agrees to increase the maximum contribution payable to New Brunswick under section 13 towards the costs of provincial benefits and measures by an amount not exceeding the amount determined by the following formula:
   (A/B) × $25 million,
   
   where:
   
   A is New Brunswick’s total number of individuals employed in the forest sector in New Brunswick in 2015 based on the CANSIM table 383 under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 113, 1153, 321, and 322; and
   
   B is the total number of individuals employed in the forest sector in the five provinces with the largest number of individuals employed in the forest sector in 2015 based on the CANSIM table 383-0031 under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 113, 1153, 321, and 322.”
3. The Canada-New Brunswick LMDA is amended by adding the following, after section 14.4:
   
   “14.5.1 Canada will make payments of its increase in contribution as determined under section 13C in two installments.
   
   14.5.2 The amount of the first installment will be an amount equal to one-half (50%) of the increase determined under section 13C for fiscal year 2017‑2018 and will be paid upon the coming into force of this amending agreement.
   
   14.5.3 The amount of the second installment will be an amount equal to one-half (50%) of the increase and will be paid upon request from New Brunswick, and such request must be received no later than December 31, 2017.”
4. The Parties agree that no part of this amending agreement will have an impact on how Canada allocates the current Employment Insurance funding ($1.95 billion per year) when determining the maximum annual amount of contributions paid to New Brunswick, in accordance with section 13 of the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA. The Parties acknowledge that the current method set out in section 13 of the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA for allocating the current $1.95 billion to the provinces and territories is the allocation method described in the letter dated June 26, 1996, from the Deputy Minister of the Department of Human Resources Development to the Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Career Development.
5. In all other respects, the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA shall remain unchanged.
6. This amending agreement shall be read together with the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA as amended from time to time and takes effect as if its provisions were part of the Canada-New Brunswick LMDA.
7. This amending agreement comes into force once it has been signed by both Parties.

SIGNED on behalf of Canada in Gatineau this 23rd day of February 2018

SIGNED on behalf of New Brunswick in Fredericton this 13th day of December 2017