Final report on Jobs and Growth released

Deputy Premier and Minister of Industry, Trade and Rural Development, Beaton Tulk, today released the Final Report on the Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth as an important part of government's overall action plan for the province.

The final report follows from an extensive consultation process with the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and builds on an Interim Report on Jobs and Growth that was released in March 2000. 

"Government has already acted on many issues and themes that were raised in the consultations, such as significant reductions in the payroll tax; new incentives to enhance access to venture capital for the small business community; a complete review of the workplace health, safety and compensation system; new investments in education and training; and the creation of a Labour Market Development Council, to name just a few," said Minister Tulk. 

"This final report provides a comprehensive account of the direction government intends to pursue in advancing the overall economic agenda. It responds directly to the economic issues and challenges facing our province as conveyed through the consultations and presents an action oriented plan to maintain and build on our economic progress."

Five major themes for attention emerged from the consultations. The final report is structured around these themes and also presents "priorities for action" in each area. The five themes are:

• Capturing Strategic Growth Opportunities
• Creating the Right Environment for Economic Development
• Investing in Education and Youth 
• Adopting New Strategic Partnerships
• Building Stronger Communities and Stronger Regions

"Government will continue to build on initiatives already taken and will move immediately to implement the �priorities for action' outlined in the Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth, commencing with specific measures in the upcoming budget," said Minister Tulk. 

The new Department of Industry, Trade and Rural Development will serve as a catalyst for advancing the overall Jobs and Growth agenda on an ongoing basis, giving particular attention to the needs of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. 

The minister also noted that government will continue an open dialogue with key stakeholders to ensure its long term economic strategy remains sound, effective and clearly focused on key priorities, in keeping with the principle that the Jobs and Growth agenda must be a "living" agenda, adapted and adjusted as circumstances evolve and change.

"The vision of the people we heard from in the consultations is of a vibrant and confident Newfoundland and Labrador where a can do attitude and take charge approach to meeting the challenges and opportunities before us will help secure our future together," concluded the minister. "The release and implementation of the Final Report on Jobs and Growth will provide a solid framework to keep the economy growing and ensure all our people share fully in our progress."

Media contact: Josephine Cheeseman, Communications, (709) 729-4570.

Link to Ministers Statement

Link to the Final Report

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BACKGROUNDER
Final Report on Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth

• A discussion document entitled "Securing Our Future Together: The Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth" was released on September 27, 1999. It served as the basis for a public consultation process to build on the province's economic momentum.
• The consultation process was led by an ad-hoc Committee of Cabinet, chaired by the Beaton Tulk.
• Twenty-three open public consultation sessions were held throughout the province from October 1999 to February 2000.
• Ten round-table sectoral forums were also organized to bring together key stakeholders in each of the major sectors of the economy to review the challenges and opportunities in each area: oil and gas; forestry; mining; agrifoods; advanced technology industries; tourism; cultural industries; fisheries; aquaculture; and manufacturing.
• More than 300 formal presentations and submissions were made through the public consultation sessions, and more than 400 individuals participated in the sectoral forums.
• An Interim Report on the Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth was released with the 2000 Budget on March 22, 2000. It summarized the major themes and messages government heard throughout the jobs and growth consultations and outlined a series of initial priorities for action.
• The Final Report on the Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth outlines the fundamental policy principles that will guide the economy forward, the major opportunities for jobs and growth as identified in the consultations, and the strategic priorities for action government intends to pursue to keep the economy growing and ensure all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians share in the benefits of continued growth. 

HIGHLIGHTS
Final Report on the Renewal Strategy for Jobs and Growth

Capturing Strategic Growth Opportunities

Strategic growth opportunities are identified in the final report in 12 major areas of the economy. Priorities for action to realize their full potential are also set forth.

• A Rejuvenated Fishery
• A More Competitive Agrifoods Industry
• New Strength in the Forestry Industry
• A Strong Mining Industry
• A Burgeoning Tourism Industry
• A Maturing Petroleum Industry
• A Growing Manufacturing Industry
• An Evolving Aquaculture Industry
• An Emerging Cultural-Heritage Industry
• Knowledge Based Industries
• The Social Economy
• Small Business
  

Highlights of significant policy and other measures to advance the Jobs and Growth agenda in these areas include:

• A stronger focus on quality assurance in the fishing industry
• Continued emphasis on fisheries diversification
• Reinforcing the adjacency principle in national fisheries policy and movement toward a Canada-Newfoundland Fisheries Management and Development Board
• A review of fish processing licensing policy
• New support for a modern fishery
• An Agrifoods Growth and Diversification Investment Initiative
• A Northern agrifoods development strategy
• A Labrador forest development initiative
• A sawmill development strategy
• Encouraging mineral exploration and diversification within the mining industry, including a focus on dimension stone 
• A new mineral policy framework
• More emphasis on tourism marketing
• A tourism product development task force
• An enhanced focus on Labrador tourism
• A Natural Areas Systems Plan
• A natural gas development strategy
• A review of our petroleum benefits strategy
• Improving labour relations in the oil and gas industry
• Skills development in the petroleum industry
• A focus on small scale manufacturing
• Working towards a national shipbuilding policy
• A new more focused aquaculture development strategy
• New policy frameworks for cultural and heritage industries development
• Taking our film industry to a higher level
• A Cultural and Heritage Industries Development Fund
• Renewing our IT industry development strategy
• Marketing our marine technological capabilities and expertise
• Greater attention to environmental industries, including a waste management strategy for the province
• A biotechnology development strategy
• A defense and aerospace industry "cluster" in Gander
• Developing an education industry
• A strategy to stimulate the social economy
• Greater emphasis on small business development throughout government

Creating the Right Environment

The private sector is the engine of economic growth. Government's primary role in the economy is to ensure a conducive overall investment climate is created and maintained to attract new investment and keep business competitive.

The key factors that make up the "right environment" for economic development and business investment, based on what was put forward in the consultations, are identified in the final report, along with the most immediate priorities for action. Some of the more notable priorities are outlined below:

• Continuing reform and reduction of provincial income taxes
• Easing the payroll tax burden on business, with the goal of eliminating it altogether as the province's fiscal situation permits
• Enhancing access to venture capital for the business community
• Maintaining a competitive overall corporate tax regime
• Strengthening support for micro-businesses
• Cutting red tape and maintaining a responsible regulatory regime that does not undermine the development of the economy
• Maintaining a sustainable, fair and competitive workplace health, safety and compensation system
• Encouraging stronger private sector investments in research and development
• Enhancing our investment prospecting agenda, especially for rural areas, and adopting effective tools, including a refocused and enhanced EDGE program
• Increasing trade and export development efforts as a means of creating new jobs and diversifying our economy, in part through a new initiative called Trade Team Newfoundland and Labrador Incorporated
• Encouraging federal action on marine, air and telecommunication infrastructure needs in the province to capture new economic opportunities available to us
• Combining the Departments of Development and Rural Renewal and Industry, Trade and Technology into a single new Department of Industry, Trade and Rural Development
• Improving access to federal and provincial services for business at the community level, and better coordination between federal and provincial development agencies, possibly through a single federal-provincial business development agency
  

A Focus on Education and Youth

In virtually all public consultation sessions and all sectoral forums, the critical importance of education and the development of the full potential of our young people was emphasized as a key ingredient to long term economic success.

Four major themes were highlighted in the consultations and have been adopted by government as guide posts in linking education and youth to the Jobs and Growth agenda:

• The need for a renewed approach to engaging youth in shaping the future of our province.
• The importance of excellence, equality of opportunity and entrepreneurship in the K-12 system.
• Access to affordable post-secondary education, training and life long learning opportunities.
• Ensuring the education and training system remains relevant and adaptable to the needs of the economy.
  

Priorities for action to address these strategic goals include:

• The creation of the new Department of Youth Services and Post-Secondary Education, as well as the formation of a Youth Advisory Council to government.
• Early implementation of the Ministerial Panel on Educational Delivery in the Classroom, including strategic new investments to support the vision of the Panel.
• The establishment of a Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation to help "level the playing field" between urban and rural schools.
• Timely implementation of the Strategic Literacy Plan, giving priority and emphasis to rural needs and new investments to accelerate implementation.
• Reducing tuition rates at Memorial University and reforming the Student Aid Program to ensure our young people have access to affordable post-secondary education and training opportunities, especially those from rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
• The establishment of a Labour Market Development Council, and the development of a Labour Market Development Strategy for Newfoundland and Labrador, to ensure our post-secondary education and training system responds effectively to the needs of our people and our economy.
• Targeted investments in the labour market to help individuals become active and productive members of the labour force. Investments made under the Canada-Newfoundland Labour Market Development Agreement will be reviewed to ensure resources are being targeted at key provincial labour market needs and priorities in keeping with the Jobs and Growth agenda.
• Increased investments in the Nautical Science and Marine Engineering Program at the Marine Institute to meet growing opportunities for employment in the international marine transportation industry.
• A youth employment action plan to coordinate federal and provincial initiatives more effectively within the province.
• A new Student Opportunity Investment Fund to give post-secondary students valuable work experience and to assist them in meeting the costs of a post-secondary education.
  

Strategic Partnerships

-     The consultations emphasized the importance of collaboration and cooperation in advancing the economic and social development agendas of the province. New approaches and partnerships between government, business, labour and "community" are needed if we are to move the economy forward together. The regional economic development boards and the newly formed regional committees tasked with implementing the Strategic Social Plan are leading this effort at the community level. We need to evaluate this effort to a higher more strategic level that focuses on the "big picture" provincially.

-     In pursuit of this objective, government will partner with business, labour and "community" to explore new models of strategic collaboration and cooperation to guide the overall economy forward, in part by examining how other jurisdictions, such as Ireland, have approached this challenge.

-     Government will also continue an open dialogue with stakeholders in implementing the Jobs and Growth agenda, including annual "taking stock" sessions with industry, labour and other stakeholders to maintain momentum and a focus on strategic priorities for action over time.

Stronger Communities and Stronger Regions

-     To ensure that all regions share in our economic progress and that the overall economy develops more on a regional basis as we move forward, government will provide the tools for communities to take greater control of and shape their own futures.

-     The regional economic development boards will continue to be the core institutional mechanism to achieve this from an economic development perspective. The Strategic Social Plan regional committees will be similarly engaged to ensure that economic and social development investments support one another.

-     Priorities for action to achieve these objectives include:

• Establishing a sharper focus on regional economic development priorities through a more proactive relationship with the 20 REDBs.
• Convening a Rural Forum and Exposition to showcase business accomplishments in all areas of the province and encourage new investment in rural areas.
• Establishing a highly competitive rural business climate, through enhanced tax and other incentives for businesses that expand and establish in rural areas.
• Aggressively implementing the Strategic Social Plan through regional committees to link economic and social investments.
• Strengthening the capacity of municipalities to participate in economic development at the local level, through increased investments in municipal infrastructure as well as debt relief to communities most in need.
• Addressing the unique and extraordinary needs and challenges in Labrador, through transportation and other infrastructure investments and by adopting a Labrador Economic Action Plan. The creation of the new Department of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs will support this direction as well.
• Encouraging the federal government to adopt the province's regionalization policy for government agencies, as it has in other jurisdictions such as Prince Edward Island, and giving attention to regionalization opportunities associated with any new government organizations that may be established in future.
• Giving priority to the fair settlement of Aboriginal land claims in Labrador as a means of advancing both the economic and social interests of Aboriginal peoples as well as new development opportunities for our province as a whole.
  

2001 03 20                            1:55 p.m.