North Shore Area Reaps Benefits Of Opportunities For Prosperity

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT--North Shore Area Reaps Benefits Of Opportunities For Prosperity

In 1999, the government of Nova Scotia did something radical: It recognized that ad hoc, piecemeal efforts to grow the economy weren't working. It recognized that a strategic, co-ordinated and focused economic growth strategy was needed -- a strategy that would involve other levels of government, business and the community.

In October 2000, Opportunities for Prosperity -- Nova Scotia's growth strategy -- was born. Today, that strategy has positively affected every region of the province.

The numbers tell the story.

The first chapter of that story begins with the number of businesses in existence. In 1993, according to Statistics Canada's business register, there were 28,922 businesses in Nova Scotia. By 2003, there were 52,085 business in the province.

If the North Shore area of the province is singled out, the numbers continue to be positive. In 1993, according to the register, there were 5,506 businesses in the area. By 2003, that number had grown to 8,795.

This growth can be attributed to the ingenuity of our workforce, and the fact that the government of Nova Scotia has provided a number of tools to help small business, and rural Nova Scotia, grow.

The Small Business Loan Guarantee Program is one example. Since the program began in June of 2003, more than $3.4 million has been put into the hands of 42 businesses which have employed 211 Nova Scotians. This $8-million program is in place because small business was clear that access to capital was a problem. The province agreed and put a solution in the hands of the credit union system -- and in the hands of Nova Scotia's communities themselves.

Community Economic Development Investment Funds, or CEDIFs, are also helping improve the economy across the province. The province recognized that more than $600 million is invested by Nova Scotians in RRSPs, with less than one per cent finding its way back into Nova Scotia's economy as reinvestments. It created the Community Economic Development Investment Fund program to encourage more people to make investments at home, making the 23 funds currently operating a made-in-Nova-Scotia plan to local investment. The program allows communities to put ideas, and people, to work. To date, $10 million has been invested in these funds, most of which has been reinvested in businesses within their communities.

Since the number of businesses is on the rise, it makes sense that employment numbers are up as well. In 1993, there were 352,100 Nova Scotians working. In 1999, there were 388,000. By 2004, there were 421,500. More importantly, the participation rate -- or the number of people entering the workforce -- grew from 58.2 per cent in 1993 to 61.7 per cent in 2004.

The latest seasonally adjusted figures from Statistics Canada continue to indicate an upward trend. More than 449,200 Nova Scotians were working in the month of May, an increase of 3,700 people over the previous month.

In the North Shore area -- which includes the counties of Cumberland, Colchester, Pictou, Guysborough and Antigonish -- 59,500 people were employed in 1993. By 1999 that number had grown to 61,300. And, in 2004, there are 71,500 people employed.

The participation rates have grown in this area as well, from 54.8 per cent in 1993 to 59.9 per cent in 2004. The unemployment rate has fallen from 15.8 per cent in 1993 to 10.4 per cent in 2004.

There is more work to do. Regional unemployment rates are still unacceptably high, but steady progress is being made.

Regional development authorities are helping guide that progress. The province of Nova Scotia helps fund 13 regional development authorities around the province because successful efforts to grow the economy are driven by the communities themselves.

In the North Shore area, regional development authority representatives include Ken Watkins in Antigonish (902-863-3330), Jo Anne Fewer in Colchester (902-893-0140), Rhonda Kelly in Cumberland (902-667-3638), Robert Roy in Pictou (1-888-412-0072) and Dan Gillis in Guysborough (902-533-3731).

Input and ideas are also welcome at Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), an organization borne out of Opportunities for Prosperity and mandated to take a client-focused, private-sector approach to growing the provincial economy. It does so by developing the province's exports, attracting investment from companies outside Nova Scotia and providing tools for companies to help them realize growth opportunities.

Since it was created in November 2001, NSBI has met with 750 businesses across the province. Its business attraction and financing clients aim to create or maintain at least 7,200 jobs.
Last year alone, the organization helped 230 companies increase export sales or find new markets. Companies interested in growth opportunities through NSBI can contact Dave Copus (902-893-6156).