Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here today. It's with great pleasure that we are with you today to speak about Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, or simply CED.
I would also like to thank my colleagues at Western Economic Diversification Canada and Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency for their presentations.
In the next few minutes, I will be giving a brief description of CED's activities before answering your questions.
CED's mission is to promote the long-term economic development of the regions of Quebec by giving special attention to those where slow economic growth is prevalent or opportunities for productive employment are inadequate. To do so, CED works with Quebec businesses and communities, contributing to projects that generate significant economic returns for Quebec as well as Canada.
CED carries out its operations through various programs. First, there is the program to help businesses, the Quebec economic development program, or QEDP. Second, there is the community futures program, or CFP, a national program delivered by CED in Quebec. Last, we develop ad hoc and targeted initiatives, such as the economic recovery initiative for Lac-Mégantic and the Canada 150 community infrastructure program, which my colleagues spoke about.
I would like to demonstrate the impact of our activities by sharing some examples with you.
In 2014-15, CED approved 724 projects, for a total investment of $317 million.
Still in 2014-15, more than 9,800 businesses received support from CED or an organization that CED supports. Through leveraging, every dollar paid out by CED generated an average additional investment of $2.88 by promoters and other financial partners.
More than 3,400 of the businesses we supported received funding for marketing and export projects.
Again in 2014-15, 32% of the approved assistance was provided for businesses targeting communities with low growth potential. These communities make up 21% of Quebec's total population.
When it comes to business start-up and succession, CED clients have a survival rate of 67%, versus 50% for other businesses.
In terms of productivity, businesses supported by CED saw, on average, a 72% increase in sales, compared to 47% among other SMEs.
And lastly, according to the most recent information available from our Office of Client Satisfaction, 94% of our clients are satisfied with CED's programs and program delivery.
In addition, CED has a rigorous project analysis and approval process. In accordance with grant and contribution management legislation and policy, the process includes documented criteria and procedures for file processing.
CED's new priorities for the coming year are aligned with those of the government.
We will continue to help Canadian businesses expand, innovate and export their products to enable them to create quality jobs and ensure the prosperity of Quebeckers and Canadians.
We will continue to build close partnerships with businesses and industries to support efforts to boost productivity and innovation.
We will also contribute to supporting transition and diversification in communities that, in the past, have been economically reliant on a single industry.
To do so, CED is targeting three major priorities. First, it supports business expansion, innovation, clean technologies and exports. This is followed by supporting the economic diversification and transition of communities, including indigenous communities, by building on their competitive advantages. Finally, it focuses on building on CED's innovation culture to boost performance.
In order to better understand economic and regional development issues and challenges, in January 2016, CED launched its Dialogue on the economic development of Quebec's regions. This dialogue with the public began with a call for ideas on the Web—a first for CED—which received responses from 624 people and organizations from diverse backgrounds and all of Quebec's regions.
Since mid-March, CED has been confirming and supplementing this information by holding roundtable discussions on seven regional economic development themes. They bring together hundreds of key economic development players from all of Quebec's regions, including businesses, universities, municipalities and varied organizations, as well as within the Government of Quebec. The outcomes of these dialogues will be used to develop the new CED 2016-21 strategic framework.
In conclusion, I would like to mention that, as indicated in the Main Estimates, 2016-17, CED's total for grants, contributions and operations expenditures was $303 million. Of that amount, $260 million is to be invested in contributions for economic development projects for our regions.
Thank you for your time. We will be happy to answer your questions now.