Economic Development

In April of 2004, the Chronicle Herald began a series of articles reviewing the federal government’s principal economic development arm in the region, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. The debate over the value of ACOA, or lack thereof, has been brewing since its formation the 1980’s. The Agency has been plagued with reports of politicized spending, inept business evaluations and lack of accountability resulting in millions of dollars of wasted tax dollars. Supporters of ACOA say it is a valuable tool for initiating business activity in the region and its problems have been cleaned up by replacing grants with loans. In this article, by the Chronicle Herald’s Clare Mellor, AIMS president Brian Lee Crowley says it’s not a matter of grants versus loans, “any program that depends on civil servants to decide which businesses should succeed and which businesses should fail is a program that is mistaken in principle."

When you gather up all the evidence, you can make a strong case for Atlantic Canadians being superior entrepreneurs. In this article in the March 17, 2004 Toronto Star, AIMS president Brian Lee Crowley says the success of Atlantic Canada entrepreneurs is particularly impressive because of special hurdles facing business in this region, not the least of which is government's damaging efforts to "help". According to many opinion leaders the image of Atlantic Canada as a region that lacks initiative is dead wrong.