Industry committee  Clause 184 was created to facilitate the transaction. In order for a crown corporation to transfer assets, an order in council is needed. This clause will making the transfer easier. Once the bill receives royal assent, the assets will automatically be transferred, without the need for an order in council.

Industry committee  The mandates of ACOA and ECBC are very similar in that they're for the economic development of the region and they work with SMEs and communities to develop the Atlantic region and in the case of Enterprise Cape Breton, the region of Cape Breton.

Industry committee  No, it will have the same objective: to further the economic development of the Cape Breton region. That will be the focus. The level and the quality of service should remain the same.

Industry committee  The government is proposing to have one federal organization providing economic development for both Cape Breton and the whole of the Atlantic region. It's being done at a time when the active mine remediation is winding down, so there is an opportunity to align the delivery of economic development in Atlantic Canada.

Industry committee  ECBC will cease to exist and the division of employees will occur on royal assent. Employees delivering economic development will come over to ACOA and those responsible for real property and the former obligations of DEVCO will be deemed employees of Public Works so the transfer will be immediate.

Industry committee  From that perspective, we certainly appreciate the importance of communication on several fronts, as you mentioned, both internal and external to stakeholders. We have a joint committee of ECBC, Public Works, and ACOA working on the transition. We have started to work on what the communication approach will be when the bill receives royal assent.

Industry committee  Good afternoon. My name is Denise Frenette. I am the Vice-President of Finance and Corporate Services for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, or ACOA. ACOA was created in 1987 with a mandate to enhance the growth of earned incomes and employment opportunities in Atlantic Canada.

Industry committee  Thank you. I will now go through the division of the budget implementation act that relates to the dissolution of the Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation. ECBC is a federal crown corporation responsible for economic development throughout Cape Breton Island and a portion of mainland Nova Scotia in and around the town of Mulgrave.

Official Languages committee  We work very closely with the francophone community. We have, as I've mentioned, a very strong presence in the community. We have district offices in the community. We work with the CBDCs as well as with other francophone groups, la FANE and La Société Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, to name a couple.

Official Languages committee  I meant that they have in fact mobilized very well if they were able to...

Official Languages committee  It is not $150,000; it is $400,000, 15% of the funds that were available. Those are not the only projects they may have received funding from; they may also have been funded under ACOA's regular programs. Certainly we promote the official languages and we work actively with those communities.

Official Languages committee  As we said, we think the roadmap has had a positive impact. Renewing the roadmap would be seen positively by the agency; it would allow us to continue.

Official Languages committee  There has been no discussion of that subject.

Official Languages committee  New Brunswick will be doing a specific evaluation of the immigration portion of the roadmap. The work has not yet started. ACOA itself will be evaluating it in the broader framework of its activities. So we do not have the results of the evaluation at present.

Official Languages committee  Yes.