Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you. I am pleased to appear before your committee today.
My name is France Guimond. I am the Director General, Operations—Manitoba for Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD).
As you know, WD is the regional development agency responsible for promoting the development and diversification of the western Canadian economy, for facilitating federal economic activities in the west, and for reflecting western Canadian interests in national decision-making.
As our minister has stated: “Our goal is to let the world know that the west means business”.
It is well recognized by my department that, by achieving the objectives of the Official Languages Act, and in particular Part VII, we can help western francophone communities contribute to a vibrant and diverse regional economy.
Under the Roadmap for Canada's Official Languages 2013-2018, WD continues to deliver the $3.2 million Economic Development Initiative (EDI) for western Canada.
Under WD's own programming, we provide ongoing core funding for the francophone economic development organizations (FEDOs), with an annual funding of more than $2.1 million.
WD received an exemplary rating from the Commissioner of Official Languages in his latest review of the department's management of its programs, and the Commissioner has said that the francophone economic development organizations, or FEDOs, are the best practice and a model.
WD regularly communicates with our FEDOs and with a wide range of francophone stakeholders in the west, including postsecondary institutions and francophone organizations. This allows WD to take into consideration the economic development priorities of official language minority communities in the west with regard to entrepreneurship, skills training, innovation, and trade and investment.
Moreover, senior management is committed to enhancing the vitality of the French language by supporting participation of WD staff in an official languages twinning program to maintain their language skills.
A few years ago, WD created the official languages lens to ensure positive measures are undertaken during project development. The official languages lens allows project officers to take into account official language minority communities' priority areas, thereby contributing directly to francophone community development.
A recent project that benefited from the official language lens is the Manitoba Music Industry Association. In 2013, WD provided nearly $1.4 million towards a $3.4 million targeted international trade initiative. The project includes an initiative that will help support the global expansion of francophone music SMEs in the west.
if you permit, I would also like to provide two EDI success stories from the previous Roadmap.
In 2009, WD invested $840,000 in the Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba, or CDEM, for a project that supported three priority areas for official language minority communities in Manitoba: youth retention, entrepreneurship for new Canadians, and community economic development. CDEM worked with over 133 youth on a number of entrepreneurship initiatives, supported 63 new immigrant start-up businesses, and contributed to the development of nine green community economic development plans.
A second great example is the Francophone Tourism Smartphone Application project, through which four western FEDOs collaborated to promote francophone tourism in Western Canada. The project involved implementing a French smartphone application to promote francophone tourism attractions and French-speaking tourism businesses in western Canada. As of March 2014, the application has been downloaded almost 6,000 times and used over 25,000 times by users from North America, Europe and other countries.
By way of summarizing the overall results of WD's EDI, our investment of a little less than $3 million leveraged approximately $4.6 million, or about 160%, in other investments for OLMCs.
Going forward, WD will build on our past efforts and successes by using our programming and economic development initiatives funds to strategically leverage other funding.
WD will continue to undertake targeted outreach to and consultations with francophone communities as we launch new initiatives and ensure that projects take into consideration the impacts on OLMCs.
WD will continue to focus on building SME capacity and supporting business and economic development projects that ensure these communities continue to flourish.
Thank you for your time today. I am ready to answer your questions.