Finance committee  First, the agency remains the lead economic development agency for the Government of Canada in Atlantic Canada. We continue to operate under a separate act of Parliament, the ACOA Act. All of our programming remains intact and in place. There really has not been any appreciable change from a client service point of view.

Finance committee  In terms of delegations, we do have delegated authorities within the agency from the regional level up to the president, our deputy, and the minister. We follow a process where we provide insight or information on projects under consideration for the minister. That process works, and it's very similar to processes that have existed within the agency for some time now.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. Newfoundland and Labrador is one province. What we try to do in our program delivery and our interventions is address the unique opportunities and challenges that each region of the province faces. It's not so much that we have a specific Labrador-focused strategy and a strategy for the rest of the province, it's really a matter of looking at opportunities and challenges that exist in each of our regions.

Finance committee  The Muskrat Falls project clearly has some challenges as it moves forward. I think it's widely known that the first electricity will be delayed until 2019-20 and that the project is over budget. ACOA's preoccupation and ACOA's involvement has been similar to the work that we do with other major industrial development projects.

Finance committee  That's a good question. The population has stabilized. We are pretty much stable at about the 527,000 to 528,000 you mentioned. The economic slowdown particularly as it relates to oil prices has had an impact on worker flow. For quite some time we had somewhere in the order of....

Finance committee  That was about 20,000 people who were commuting primarily to and from Alberta, but also Ontario. Those were the two biggest areas. That number has obviously petered off. It hit a high in 2012. We've seen a lot of those folks come back, and that has impacted rural areas more particularly, because many of those folks tend to be from rural areas of the province.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  It wouldn't be on a per capita basis. It would really be opportunity driven, based upon the engagement and discussions and consultations we would have with indigenous clients. Some of those numbers creeping up or creeping down really would not have had any impact specifically on our budget.

Finance committee  I can't speak for the other regions, but I can tell you that in our case, when we go through an operational planning process, we identify areas of intervention and activities and projects that we want to undertake with indigenous communities. Those projects and initiatives will be built directly into our operational planning, and by extension into our budgets.

Finance committee  Well, I think there are bright spots in the short to medium term. Our tourism industry remains very strong. It's a billion-dollar industry. We have half a million visitors annually, and 36% growth in non-resident visitation over the last six years. The aquaculture sector is strong as well, and shows great promise, especially on the south coast.

Finance committee  We call them satellite offices.

Finance committee  Yes, that's right. We have a regional office in St. John's, and we have six satellite offices throughout both the island and Labrador.

Finance committee  Sure. We have a long history of working closely with key indigenous communities: the Innu, the Nunatsiavut, the NunatuKavut in Labrador, the Conne River Band, and the Qalipu Band on the island of Newfoundland and Labrador. In fact, I've had the good fortune of having spent time, about a year, earlier in my career with ACOA, actually working with a Nunatsiavut subsidiary to help them back in the days when Voisey's Bay was in its exploration stage.

Finance committee  The bulk of the projects we initiate or support oftentimes may be during a construction phase, but in most of those cases the supply and service opportunities actually spill over into the operation phase. A good example is Sikumiut Environmental. They have been directly involved in supporting some of the work around both Voisey's Bay and Lower Churchill.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, everybody. It’s both an honour and a privilege for Karen and I to be here today. It is our first appearance before a parliamentary committee, so I'd say we're looking forward to it but I know you wouldn't believe me. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.