Minister’s Message

I am pleased to submit the Report on Plans and Priorities 2012-13 of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.

Over the past few years, the Government of Canada has created conditions conducive to economic growth and job creation by completing the implementation of Canada’s Economic Action Plan (CEAP).

This year once again, the government’s priority remains the economy, so we will continue to focus on economic growth while working to re-establish a balanced budget.

That is the background against which the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec has targeted its priorities for action for 2012-13: to nurture Quebec’s economic growth by intensifying support for business development and continuing support for regional economic development; and to continue strengthening community economies.

In that regard, the Agency will continue to support Quebec’s small and medium-sized enterprises, communities and regions by focussing on entrepreneurship, innovation and technology transfer, productivity, commercialization and exports, and mobilization of development agents around challenges specific to their communities. It will also continue to provide substantial support for the diversification of communities affected by the forestry crisis by completing implementation of the Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec’s Forest Economies.

Over the coming year, the Agency will continue to roll out its transformation and modernization initiative in order to become more efficient and provide enhanced service to the public. In particular, it has updated its regional economic development vision and drawn up the Quebec Economic Development Program to meet the challenges of Quebec’s regions and enterprises.

The dynamism and vitality of regional economies are central to the Agency’s mandate. I invite you to read through this report, which presents the Agency’s priorities and expected results in 2012-13 in order to contribute to the development of Quebec’s communities.

Section 1 - Agency Overview

1.1 Raison d’être

Object

Under its Act,¹ which came into effect on October 5, 2005, the object of the Agency is to promote the long-term economic development of the regions of Quebec.

Vision

Quebec regions and enterprises participate to their full potential in the economy of tomorrow, building on their assets.

1.2 Responsibilities

Pursuant to its mandate, the Agency fosters the startup and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and asset-operating non-profit organizations (NPOs). It helps them become more competitive, innovative and productive. It also contributes to the dynamism of all Quebec regions, paying special attention to communities posting slow economic growth.

Through its business offices and advisors, the Agency’s presence is well-rooted in all Quebec regions. It acts in relation to enterprises—predominantly SMEs—and NPOs. The Agency supports SMEs and NPOs in their development projects primarily by providing financial assistance for project implementation.

The Agency’s approach is inspired by the best practices identified with respect to regional economic development. It is:

• consistent with government priorities and national strategies in line with its object and anticipated results;
• geared to the economic issues and challenges of enterprises and the different regions of Quebec by building on their assets and potential;
• collaborative with economic agents, such as local partners, other federal departments and agencies, the Quebec government and municipal organizations.

In 2010, the Agency conducted a strategic review, engaging in an exhaustive, rigorous, future-oriented exercise. It took that opportunity to update its regional economic development vision and ensure greater consistency with government priorities, while continuing to meet the challenges of Quebec’s regions and enterprises. The Agency has since embarked upon a path of transformation, by simplifying in particular its Program Activity Architecture (PAA) and its performance measurement, and reducing the number of its programs. Henceforth it has a single regular program, the Quebec Economic Development Program,² which came into effect on April 1, 2012.

In additional to its regular program, the Agency contributes to the design and implementation of Canada-wide programs and targeted ad-hoc initiatives.

Agency programs and initiatives, 2012-13

Regular program:

• Quebec Economic Development Program

Canada-wide programs implemented in Quebec by the Agency:

• Community Futures Program
• North American Platform Program

Infrastructure Canada delivery partner:

• Building Canada Fund–Quebec
• Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund
• Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund

Ad-hoc initiatives:

• Linguistic Duality Economic Development Initiative
• Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec’s Forest Economies
• Support Initiative for International Cruise Development Along the St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers
• Contribution Program to Fund Construction of a Gas Pipeline Between Vallée-Jonction and Thetford Mines

1.3 Strategic outcome and Program Activity Architecture (PAA)

To fulfil its mandate, the Agency aims to attain one strategic outcome: Quebec’s regions have a growing economy. The following table presents the Agency’s new PAA and shows the full framework of program activities and subactivities, as well as their contribution to the strategic outcome. The PAA was revised since the last Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) so as to illustrate the simplified approach preferred by the Agency toward economic development. It has been in effect since April 1, 2012.

This Report sets out the plans and priorities in line with these components. Further information on the Agency’s strategic outcome is presented in Section 2.

1.4 Corporate priorities

Priorities represent the areas on which the Agency has decided to focus. They are established on the basis of Government of Canada priorities, departmental targeted results and the regions’ socio-economic challenges.

The Agency has selected four priorities for 2012-13. These are in line with the priorities presented in the Report on Plans and Priorities 2011-12, since the regions’ and SMEs’ challenges are as current as ever. The Agency’s overall actions are covered in Section 2, which presents total spending and planned results by program activity.

Over the next few years, Quebec’s regions, communities and enterprises will have to contend with a demanding context associated primarily with the consequences of globalization and stronger competition, particularly from emerging countries. Also, the shrinking labour force, largely linked to the aging population, will affect Quebec enterprises. In that context, it is essential for the Agency to continue supporting Quebec’s enterprises—primarily SMEs and asset-operating NPOs—communities and regions.

To fulfil its economic development mandate, the Agency intends to support projects that foster the development of SMEs and asset-operating NPOs. Thus, to help enterprises operate in a highly competitive global market, in the uncertain economic context of the coming year, the Agency will focus on:

• entrepreneurship
  The Agency will support entrepreneurship, in particular for the development of SMEs deemed promising, with high growth potential and strategic for their regions’ development, so as thus to renew the pool of SMEs in Quebec.
• innovation and technology transfer
  The Agency will support projects likely to enhance SMEs' performance with respect to commercial promotion of technology and innovation, thus contributing to enhancing their competitiveness.
• productivity
  The Agency will support projects from SMEs and asset-operating NPOs in the areas
  of production management, procurement and distribution logistics, thus contributing to enhancing their productivity and performance.
• commercialization and exports
  The Agency will support projects likely to enhance enterprises’ capability to carry through their commercialization and export efforts. To that end, it will help them identify and develop new markets, commercialize their products and services more effectively on the international front and develop profitable business relationships and partnerships, thus contributing to enhancing their global competitiveness.

Local communities’ accountability and responsibility for their economic development is a success factor conducive to the establishment of growth-generating projects. To fulfil its economic development mandate, the Agency intends to support projects that encourage local communities to take charge of their economic development.

• Regional engagement
  The Agency will support projects involving economic development strategies targeting the mobilization of development agents around issues specific to their communities, such as the drawing up of development and diversification plans.

In order to keep on fulfilling its mandate, the Agency intends to continue its support for projects that contribute to strengthening community economies in order to increase the growth of the Quebec economy. The Agency will support the economic activity of Quebec communities sustaining an economic shock, which have major economic development challenges or growth-generating opportunities to be grasped. In that regard, the Agency will complete implementation of the TISQFE in communities affected by the forestry crisis.

The following priority aims to foster certain business practices in order to ensure sound management of public funds and better reporting of the Agency’s results.

Since spring 2010, when work began on program renewal and the Strategic Review, the Agency has undertaken a transformation and modernization exercise built on Government of Canada priorities. This transformation will enable the Agency to be more efficient and provide the public with enhanced service, by adopting practices building more on technology.

The Agency thus intends to develop and implement several transformation and modernization activities over the next few years. In that regard:

• it has updated its vision concerning regional economic development in Quebec and, among other things, created a Strategic Framework and renewed its PAA, notably facilitating the communication of the Agency’s actions and reporting. The Agency has also revised its regular programs. So, the new Quebec Economic Development Program has been in effect since April 1, 2012;
• it will continue its activities with respect to integrated management of operational risk through a series of initiatives, including an operational risk policy and a roadmap of risks associated with mitigation measures, adapted to risk tolerance. In this way, the Agency will be able to simplify its project analysis and monitoring processes in order to increase employee efficiency and provide clients with enhanced services. Management of files adapted with respect to risk will help keep down file processing times and paperwork;
• it will review its procedures and work tools and migrate toward electronic tools featuring higher performance. For instance, the Agency recently acquired a telepresence system which reduces its environmental footprint and generate savings through reduced travel for meetings and training.
• alongside its process of modernization and simplification, the Agency will continue its participation in government initiatives associated with internal services. For instance, it is an active participant in the work of the Common Human Resources Business Process Team initiative, which will enable it, among other things, to improve its practices and facilitate the medium-term implementation of an integrated human resources management software package.

1.5 Analysis of risks

In its desire to attain its results, the Agency has to have an overview of the changing factors that have a marked impact on its environment and to integrate these factors into its decision-making processes so as to respond more effectively to the new needs of Quebec enterprises—primarily SMEs and asset-operating NPOs—communities and regions.

The Agency’s corporate risks are determined through a rigorous approach involving all branches along with senior management. It was in a perspective of evolving internal and external factors that the Agency drew up the profile of its main corporate risks representing the risk sectors most likely to hamper the attainment of anticipated results and affect the Agency’s performance in terms of efficiency and effectiveness of management practices. The mitigation strategies identified will be implemented and monitored to ensure that the impact of risks is reduced.

Under the transformation and modernization initiative, the Agency is required to implement several innovative initiatives simultaneously in order to be more efficient and provide citizens with enhanced service. The Agency is thus embarking on a period of adjustment of its practices, in a context of increasingly limited resources. Consequently, the integration of risk management in departmental planning will be more important than ever.

1.6 Planning summary

This section presents planned financial resources (grants and contributions, and operating costs) and human resources (expressed as a full-time equivalent – FTE), along with a summary chart portraying Agency planning for the next three fiscal years. The planned financial resources in 2012-13 presented in this Report correspond to the data presented in the Main Estimates 2012-13. Further information is provided in Section 2.

Financial and human resources

The decrease in financial resources and human resources between 2012-13 and 2014-15 stems from the termination of funding for several temporary initiatives, including the Temporary Initiative for the Strengthening of Quebec’s Forest Economies, the Linguistic Duality Economic Development Initiative, the Support Initiative for International Cruise Development Along the St. Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers, the Program to Fund Construction of a Gas Pipeline Between Vallée-Jonction and Thetford Mines and the Montreal Planetarium project.

Other factors also explain the variation in financial and human resources over the next few years, among them the implementation of the 2010 Strategic Review, application of decisions within the framework of the administrative services review and the absorption of salary increases provided for in the collective agreements in view of the operating budget freeze announced in the 2010 Budget.

Note that the data presented in the tables are forecasts based on the information available when this Report was drafted. The renewal or addition of initiatives could therefore lead to variations in the amount and number of resources allocated.

Human resources planning

As mentioned earlier, the Agency will in the next few years have several challenges to meet, to which is added the implementation of the transformation process at the Agency.

The implementation of transformation initiatives is an opportunity for the Agency to rethink its workplace, simplify its processes, procedures and tools, and enhance its client services. Also, having targeted workforce management as one of its four Departmental risks, the Agency will be implementing its integrated human resources plan as well as a strategy geared to accompanying and equipping its employees so as to engage them during this time of change.

The Agency will also implement its action plan in order to follow up on the findings of the 2011 Public Service Employee Survey. The Agency will continue to support its employees in their professional development in order to maintain a high level of competency and facilitate the necessary adjustment to change. Values and ethics will continue to be the foundation of a workplace fostering employees’ enhanced well-being.

Planning summary table³

The decrease in planned spending is primarily observable between 2012-13 and 2013-14 under the Strengthening community economies program activity, and is attributable to the termination of several temporary initiatives.

Contribution to the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy

The Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) describes the undertaking made by the Government of Canada to increasing the transparency of environmental decision-making by stating its main environmental goals and targets. The Agency works to ensure that the review of these results is an integral part of its decision-making processes. In particular, within the context of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), any new policy and any new plan or program includes an analysis of its impact on the attainment of FSDS goals and targets. The findings of the SEA are made public when an initiative is announced, thus illustrating the Agency’s commitment to attaining the SEA goals and targets.

The Agency contributes to Theme 1 – Addressing Climate Change and Air Quality and Theme 4 – Shrinking the Environmental Footprint – Beginning with Government, as indicated by the visual identifiers below.

Theme IV
Shrinking the Environmental Footprint - Beginning with Government

These contributions are components of the following program activities and are explained in further detail in Section 2:

• Program activity 1.1: Business development
• Program activity 1.4: Internal services

Further information on Agency activities in support of sustainable development is available in Section 2 of this Report, and in the Environmental affairs section of the Agency’s Website.

Additional information on the FSDS is also available in the Sustainable Development section of the Environment Canada Website.

1.7 Expenditure profile

Departmental spending trends

Spending Trend

[D]

Over the past three years, Canada’s Economic Action Plan (CEAP) has had an impact on spending trends, particularly in 2009-10 and 2010-11. As scheduled, CEAP terminated on March 31, 2011, except for the Recreational Infrastructure Canada Program, which ended on October 31, 2011. So from 2012-13 onward, the Agency will revert to its regular budget base.

But the Agency anticipates a decrease in its spending from 2012-13 to 2014-15, owing primarily to the termination of funding for temporary initiatives and the end of large-scale projects in the next few years, as listed in Section 1.6. In fact, planned spending will fall from $300.7 million in 2012-13 to $224.9 million in 2014-15.

1.8 Estimates by vote

Information on the Agency’s appropriations is available in the Main Estimates 2012-13 section of the Treasury Board Secretariat Website.