| |
 |
 |   |
|
Introduction
Opportunities for Prosperity is a new economic growth strategy for Nova Scotians that has been inspired by many of your ideas and feedback.
We gathered in firehalls, church halls, and Legion halls; e gathered in firehalls, in classrooms, conference rooms, and corporate boardrooms. We came together as workers, educators, businesspeople, civil servants, community leaders; as representatives of the aerospace sector, of fisheries, forestry, mining, of tourism, of energy. We spoke as members of First Nations, as Acadians, as African Nova Scotians; we spoke as immigrants, as women, as men, as Nova Scotians.
In the spring of 2000, the government of Nova Scotia embarked on a consultative process aimed at developing a new economic growth strategy for our province. With the launch of a discussion paper titled Toward Prosperity, Nova Scotia Economic Development took the lead in meeting with people from a cross-section of our society and bringing together sister departments and other governmental players to help answer the questions put forward in the discussion document.
We gathered more than 100 times, from one end of the province to the other. And we all spoke of what it would take to make Nova Scotia a better place—the best place—in which to live and work, do business and raise families.
How do we make the best of the opportunities at hand, today and for generations to come? How do we ensure all Nova Scotians can claim some of the prosperity? How do we move ahead? Nova Scotia Economic Development asked these and many other questions of the people of our province. Several hundred took the time and effort to provide thoughtful, thought-provoking answers, and the government extends its thanks.
We each came to the table with our own interests, ideologies, and priorities, and inherent in this diversity are varied and conflicting viewpoints. But we all recognized the time has come to focus our commitment and energy on a best course of action if we are to arrive at a place that offers unmatched opportunities for prosperity to all Nova Scotians.
This document, Opportunities for
Prosperity, is a new economic growth
strategy for Nova Scotians that has been
inspired by many of the ideas and
feedback presented, including some
received through the government website
and by mail. The pages that follow offer
a sense of what we heard, some of what
we learned from research, a vision for
Nova Scotia, an outline of seven strategic
areas, an examination of our vital
economic sectors, and a discussion of
implementation and measurement.
Many of you spoke of the complexity
of the economy and, by extension, the
complexity of the work to strengthen
that economy. It is not tidy work. It is
not fast work, nor is it solitary work.
Education, training, jobs, income,
investment, infrastructure, technology,
exports, business climate, and all of the
many other elements that make up this
notion of the economy—not one
functions in isolation if we are to have
a strong economy.
The government heeds this reality
and has taken a strategic approach
that attempts to connect these many
elements. Many readers may feel that
discussion of some elements is too
concise in this document. For them,
the government has employed the
greater capacity of the Internet at
www.gov.ns.ca/ecor/strategy/ to link
an electronic version of this document
to more in-depth research and
discussion papers.
Opportunities for Prosperity charts key
directions in areas that can produce
the best long-term return for our
province. It is not intended as a
detailed business plan with specific
targets and tactics. Instead, its purpose
is to function as a framework for
action, a framework that stresses
consistency and sustained relevance
in our economic development
activities in the years ahead.
As mariners have for centuries set
their best course across oceans fully
recognizing that unpredictable winds,
weather, and currents will inevitably
cause them to adjust, so too does the
Nova Scotia government present this
document with the knowledge that we
are navigating into a future full of
change and the unforeseen. Through
this strategy, we have charted the best
course for our destination while
anticipating the need to keep a watchful
eye on economic and social conditions
that will compel us to make adjustments
to this course.
|
 |
Comments to comm@gov.ns.ca | Privacy Statement
Copyright © 2006, Government of Nova Scotia, All Rights Reserved.
|
| |
