Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members.
Thank you for the invitation to appear today. My name is Chuck Maillet. I am the vice-president for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, or ACOA, for Nova Scotia's operations. I'm joined by my colleague David Boland, director general of regional operations for the Newfoundland and Labrador office.
I am joining you today from Halifax, the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people.
Mr. Chair, in Atlantic Canada, natural resources industries are important employers and contributors to the economy. As key economic drivers in many communities, small and large, across the region, these industries are a priority for ACOA.
The agency works to create opportunities for economic growth in the region by helping businesses become more competitive, innovative and productive, and by working with diverse communities to develop and diversify local economies, and by championing the strengths of Atlantic Canada.
Through its suite of programs and initiatives, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is well placed to work with businesses, industry associations and government agencies at all levels to help our region's natural resource industry remain stable, innovative and competitive, and to improve its resilience to the effects of extreme weather.
As such, agency employees in more than 30 communities, from our major cities to resource-dependent villages, work closely with community representatives, provincial governments, indigenous organizations and other economic stakeholders to identify priorities and opportunities to maximize the potential of our region's natural resources in a strategic and sustainable manner.
In addition, our presence on the ground allows us to provide effective and targeted advice and support that helps businesses in the natural resources industry grow, diversify and offer new or value-added products and services, and adopt or adapt new technologies to become more innovative, productive and competitive. We also help businesses access supply chains and start or expand exporting their products to domestic and international markets.
I can give you some examples. In the oil and gas sector, we’ve assisted the industry associations econext and Energy NL to conduct a project titled “net zero pathways”, which will provide detailed pathways for Canada’s offshore oil and gas industry to achieve net-zero GHG emissions targets in offshore oil and gas production by 2050 while maintaining economic development and industry growth.
In addition, we have supported Enaimco management in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, to commercialize its digital twinning services for subsea infrastructure monitoring, which will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, operating costs and risk for operators.
In the forestry sector, we supported Lewis Mouldings in Weymouth, Nova Scotia, to automate its operations to process waste wood into new products.
In the mining sector, we've partnered with Tacora Resources in Wabush, Newfoundland and Labrador, in the development of a new innovative process to separate manganese from iron ore, resulting in a higher-grade iron concentrate.
Additionally, ACOA supports research aimed at sustaining and growing the region's natural resources industries, with over 20 projects supported to date.
ACOA’s efforts are focused on assisting SMEs, and complement the work of other federal departments and agencies like Natural Resources Canada. We do share a goal of supporting the competitiveness of Canada’s natural resources industries, and in our particular case Atlantic Canada’s, by helping small and medium enterprises to diversify products, markets and processes.
ACOA will continue to work with natural resources industries’ players, especially small and medium enterprises, all levels of government and community leaders to ensure that Atlantic Canada’s natural resources industries can take advantage of emerging opportunities and continue to thrive, create jobs and help grow the economy.
This concludes my remarks. Thank you for your time. I will be pleased to answer any questions you may have.