Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Committee members, good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I'm joined by Kalie Hatt Kilburn, director general of policy, advocacy and coordination. First, I would like to say a few words about ACOA's work in the Atlantic provinces.

Finance committee  From our perspective, it's a two-pronged problem. With respect to the mandate of ACOA, which is to build and improve the state of SMEs and improve their ability to grow, first and foremost we believe talent will come to jobs, so if we have strong SMEs that are globally competit

Finance committee  At the present time, our programs are fully subscribed. We feel confident that the investments that we make are sound. In New Brunswick, I haven't seen any important projects that we wouldn't have the ability to fund. So from that perspective, I would say we're properly resourced

Finance committee  In the New Brunswick region, our annual budget for grants and contributions fluctuates from year to year. This year it's approximately $70 million. It fluctuates generally between $60 million and $70 million per year. About two-thirds of that is directed towards business, and abo

Finance committee  We have some temporary programs. The CIP 150 program is aimed at enhancing community infrastructure for various small communities across the country in anticipation of Canada's 150th anniversary. We have some money in our budget related to that. It sunsets in March 2018. In budge

Finance committee  We measure the impact of our programs' performance. We took an extensive look at this in our last five-year report to Parliament, which ran from 2008 to 2013. With respect to our macro impact on labour productivity, we worked with Statistics Canada to distinguish the firms that

Finance committee  Yes. Of course the economy is influenced by a number factors, not the least of which for New Brunswick was the recession starting in 2008. There are global factors that impact the economy of New Brunswick. I might also point out that New Brunswick is one of the most export-depe

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. We believe—and I can speak from the New Brunswick perspective here—that there are really three key areas where we see possible development, and in fact they require development in some cases. Primarily, with respect to value-added resource sectors like agri

Finance committee  The cuts affect the programs I referred to earlier. For example, the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program, or CIP 150, is a temporary program that will end on March 31, 2018. Further effects on our budgets are related to temporary programs. However, our basic budget has re

Finance committee  I would like to point out one of the aspects that affects our budget. A significant portion of our contributions to businesses is refundable. Basically, we are counting on about $45 million, which is the amount for this budget. If we can obtain more rebates, we will be able to r

Finance committee  During all the transitions within our structure, there has always been a period of adjustment. In addition, it is important for the minister to familiarize himself with our agency’s operations and to feel comfortable with the kinds of projects we support. I think, for now, we ha

Finance committee  I will say that our experience so far, in terms of communicating our needs to the minister and to the question of his having an appreciation for the Atlantic Canadian context, has been that very early in his mandate, he was out. I, personally, moderated a round table—I think he's

Finance committee  Thank you. Tourism does represent a very important important opportunity. In particular, it's driven by a couple of factors, namely the low Canadian dollar, which attracts U.S. tourists to the area, and the low price of gas, because much of our tourism actually comes from vehicu

Finance committee  The pan-Atlantic agreement, an agreement struck with the provinces, is actually managed out of our Prince Edward Island office. ACOA, P.E.I..... The region also has responsibility for tourism generally. My colleague, Mr. Pat Dorsey, will be here later on this afternoon.

Finance committee  Certainly, there's the area of clean technology. What I perhaps neglected to mention before is that we do have world-class research capability at the University of New Brunswick in the smart grid area. I might also add, in terms of our assets within the educational institutions a