Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here. I'll try to keep my remarks brief and leave as much time as possible for questions.
I am very pleased to be here to discuss the Supplementary Estimates for Western Economic Diversification Canada in the company of my colleagues from the other regional agencies, the one for the Regions of Quebec and the Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency. Unfortunately, Minister of State (Western Economic Diversification Canada) Yelich was not able to join us today. However, I am joined at the table by Jim Saunderson, Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Management for the Department.
As you know, Western Economic Diversification, or WD, is the regional development agency responsible for the four western provinces.
Our mandate is to support economic growth, development, and diversification in western Canada. We do this by focusing on four priorities: technology commercialization, trade and investment, business productivity and competitiveness, and rural diversification.
The partnerships we have forged are an effective means of ensuring that our activities are coordinated with other economic development organizations working in western Canada. Our financial investments support federal, regional, and local priorities.
One of the examples of this is our Western Economic Partnership Agreements that we sign with each of the four western provincial governments and that illustrate our efforts to identify economic development opportunities in each of those areas.
WD has established a reputation as a champion of, and catalyst for, economic growth in the West. Many of our investments on behalf of the federal government—whether it is the TEC Edmonton commercialization facility in Alberta or the CanETREC northern coal research centre in Manitoba—have attracted new industry investment and are supporting the growth of new jobs and business.
Your invitation to appear today gives us the opportunity to present highlights from our supplementary estimates (B).
We are seeking an additional $62.6 million, increasing our total appropriation to $485.8 million. The biggest component for this is for the Recreational Infrastructure Canada program in an amount of $43.9 million, which is part of the 2009 economic action plan. Another $12.4 million is required for the community economic diversification initiative, which is the government's response to the mountain pine beetle infestation in British Columbia.
Another $3.8 million is
the reinvestment of receipts of repayable contributions collected in the last fiscal year. These resources are largely the result of repayable contributions made by the department a number of years ago. They will be used to fund our ongoing core activities.
There are some other smaller amounts in these estimates as well, but given the time today, I won't go into those.
As with ACOA and DEC—and they'll no doubt point to the same thing later—our strong relationships and profound understanding of our respective regions position us well to deliver on Government of Canada economic priorities while recognizing and building on the needs of local communities.
Like other regions of Canada, western Canada has been hit hard by the economic crisis of the past year. Many communities have seen their major employers reduce their operations or shut down completely.
Our department has worked extremely hard to deliver CAF and RInC program funding to Canadians in close collaboration with our regional development agency colleagues across the country. Shortly after the programs were launched in May, WD used a single request for proposals for each program. These applications were received by the end of June.
We had a significant volume of applications: more than 1,000 for the CAF program and more than 1,500 for the RInC program. Consistent with the objectives and guidelines that were established for these programs, WD's due diligence has focused on ensuring that projects we fund will be completed within the timeframe of the economic action plan.
Where it made sense in terms of ensuring speed of delivery and meeting program objectives, WD has entered into both formal and informal arrangements with provincial governments to assist the department in identifying and evaluating potential projects. In many cases, provincial governments have provided joint funding, whether as part of a formal agreement or simply to support individual projects.
Municipal governments have also provided funding for many of these projects under both programs.
To date, WD has approved over 200 projects under the Community Adjustment Fund, with total funding in excess of $220 million. These are projects such as Alberta's FireSmart Program—a $15 million initiative investing in projects in forest-dependent communities throughout Alberta to maintain and enhance the province's forests. Over a two-year period, the goal of this initiative is to create up to 1,100 seasonal, or 420 full-time one-year positions, across forestry-dependent communities in Alberta.
Under the RInC program, WD has approved more than 500 projects for funding of almost $95 million—projects like the upgrade of the skating rink in the village of Frontier, Saskatchewan. The changes will improve safety and significantly lower energy costs for that community.
WD believes that our work with CAF and RInC is realizing the goals for which these programs were established. To date, the CAF program has assisted more than 140 communities and the RInC program has helped almost 350 in western Canada.
We expect to leverage more than $430 million that would not otherwise have been invested in these communities during these challenging economic times. We will continue to monitor closely the progress of these projects and provide regular reporting and accounting to our ministers and to Parliament.
Thank you for your time this afternoon. I look forward to your questions.