As the Covid-19 pandemic raged around the world, the four Atlantic Canadian provinces came together in an unprecedented spirit of cooperation and collaboration to tackle the challenges it presented. The result was one the safest places in the world, with untold lives saved. That showed what we can do as a region when we work together.
Recently, a group of entrepreneurs from all four provinces came together to discuss ways to grow our economy and erase that gap that still exists with the rest of Canada.
It’s about controlling our own destiny and creating a region with more opportunities for our people.
The Atlantic Investment Bubble
The first item this group is proposing is the creation of an “Atlantic Investment Bubble” – a common equity tax credit to encourage investment across the region. Too often, businesses in Atlantic Canada struggle to find the investment needed to fuel growth compared to the rest of Canada. In fact, there is only $3 of Angel investment per capita in Atlantic Canada for every $28 invested nationally, according to the most recent figures.
That’s a huge gap, one that penalizes businesses in our region.
The challenge of finding investment affects all kinds of businesses – food producers like our company, Mrs. Dunster’s, as well as technology companies, manufacturers, tourism operators and more. We all face the same challenge – finding the capital needed to help our business grow.
Each province has its own equity tax credit aimed at encouraging local investment in local businesses. These work pretty well, as far as they go. They have different amounts of credit available and some outline support for only specific sectors. Yet the fundamental problem with this well-intentioned approach is that it ignores the regional nature of our business community.
As a region, we are simply just too small to operate only within our home provinces – we need to go to other provinces to find customers, vendors, employees, mentors and investors.
The provincial equity tax credits support investors who invest in a company in their home province. But if I wanted to encourage an investor in Nova Scotia, PEI or Newfoundland and Labrador to invest in Mrs. Dunster’s, they wouldn’t receive a tax credit. That becomes a disincentive to invest. A regional equity tax credit will address this problem and create a more robust investment environment within Atlantic Canada by promoting more interprovincial investment. That will help us close the gap with the national investment average.
How It Works
We propose a regional equity tax credit of 35 percent overlayed on the existing provincial programs and focused on sectors that will yield the most benefit to our region, including manufacturing, renewable energy, tourism, food and beverage, IT, aerospace, and cultural industries.
This approach will minimize the amount of legislative and regulatory changes required to implement the program. That’s important because speed matters here – one of the outcomes of the pandemic is there are billions of dollars on the sidelines looking for opportunities to be invested, including large amounts here in Atlantic Canada. By implementing a regional equity tax credit, we can repatriate our own money that too often gets invested in the public markets in Toronto or New York.
It means we can invest in our own potential.
We recognize, of course, that every dollar counts for provincial governments, and that they can’t spend scarce dollars on new programs without consequences. However, we believe that the Atlantic Investment Bubble will be self-sustaining, creating more new tax revenues than it costs.
We propose a four-year pilot program that is backstopped by the federal government, meaning it will have zero cost to the provincial governments. Based on our projections, this incentive would support nearly 50 companies in the first year. By year four after the first year of investment, this equity tax credit will have created over $50-million in labour income and added nearly $80-million to the region’s GDP.
Beyond the numbers, it will make our region more competitive and entrepreneurial. It will give Atlantic Canadian businesses the resources they need to grow, creating new jobs and new tax revenues.
Why You Should Care
Admittedly, a regional equity tax credit can seem like a niche idea. Why should you care about it?
I believe that Atlantic Canadians should be angry that our economy continues to lag behind the national average. It means our unemployment levels remain higher and our average incomes are lower.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We have the talent needed to grow our economy – we just need the fuel in the form of access to more capital.
The Atlantic Investment Bubble will make our business community stronger, creating access to more private sector investment that will help small- and medium-sized businesses grow and create more jobs for Atlantic Canadians, people just like you. It will make our region stronger, keeping your kids at home by providing them with meaningful opportunities.
The Government of Canada spends hundreds of billions each year providing services to Canadians. The modest expenditure to support the Atlantic Investment Bubble is a smart investment in the potential of Atlantic Canada. It is a short-term, not a long-term, expense that will deliver a strong Return On Investment by driving more private sector investment throughout Atlantic Canada.
The provincial governments in Atlantic Canada proved that they could work together in common cause during the height of the pandemic. They did a great job managing the crisis and have positioned the region strongly for the post-pandemic reality. We can build on that momentum with the Atlantic Investment Bubble.
There is already considerable support for the Atlantic Investment Bubble, including the Atlantic Canada Chamber of Commerce, Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick, New Brunswick Business Council, the Order of the Wallace McCain Institute and TechImpact. They understand that this change will open investment in our region and help us achieve our true potential.
If you would like to learn more about this initiative, or to show your support, visit our website: www.atlanticinvestmentbubble.ca. If you are already sold on the benefits, speak to your MLA and MP and ask them to support this smart, cost-effective policy change.
See Blair Hyslop’s full commentary on Huddle.Today HERE