Western Economic Diversification splits into two agencies
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$1 per week for 24 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/08/2021 (1667 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Western Economic Diversification will officially become two agencies Thursday — Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan) exclusively servicing B.C., and Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) covering the three Prairie provinces.
In an interview with the Free Press, Mélanie Joly, minister of economic development and official languages and minister responsible for all the regional development agencies, said the bifurcation has been in discussion for more than a year.
“We know that Western Canada has been hard hit by the pandemic, even more than other regions of the country so we had to take stock and we had to act,” she said.
Western Economic Diversification was created in 1987. Since then, Western Canada’s economy has quadrupled in size.
Last year, WED had an annual budget of $149 million for the four western provinces and going forward, PrairiesCan will have that same budget, but now those resources will be dedicated to only three provinces.
Part of that additional budget will go to fund new regional offices in all three provinces, including new offices for the department in Brandon and Thompson and two more in both Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Joly said the new offices will mean greater access to the department’s resources for entrepreneurs and others.
There is no set date as to when those offices will be established but they are expected to be opened in the coming months,
Joly said not only will there be a larger annual budget to invest in Manitoba, the department’s pandemic recovery programs will continue to be available for applicants.
The announcement of two new regional development agencies brings the total number to seven in the country, the others being: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Canada Economic Development for the Regions of Quebec, Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.
“We know compared to other regions of the country, Western Canada was underserved,” said Joly. “I wanted to get rid of that injustice. We want to do more and that is what we are opening this Prairie RDA.”
Terry Duguid, a Winnipeg MP and parliamentary secretary to the minister of economic development said, “The creation of PrairiesCan is recognition of this fact and of the significant diversity among the provinces in agriculture, natural resources, water resources, Indigenous treaty status, exports, and tourism, to name a few.
“The result will create new middle-class jobs and grow the economy in more communities cross the Prairies.”
martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca