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- Premier Rodney MacDonald and Finance Minister Michael Baker will meet today, Nov. 17, with economic forecasters from Canada's Banks as well as the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council (APEC) and the Conference Board of Canada. (More...)
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Premier's Speeches
Remarks for Premier Rodney MacDonald
Eastern Kings Chamber of Commerce Annual Christmas Luncheon
St. James Anglican Church, 18 Prospect Ave. Kentville
December 12, 2006
Thank you Greg, Minister Parent, Minister Taylor, Elected Officials, Ladies and Gentleman
First of all, I just want to acknowledge the 74 courageous young men and women who are leaving from Greenwood today, part of a group of about 100 reservists leaving for Afghanistan. These young men and women deserve our thanks and our praise.
Ladies and gentlemen, what a pleasure it is to join you, and also say congratulations on your announcements and ongoing efforts.
- Efforts such as the Innovation Summit in Wolfville last week;
- Your successful Annual Awards Banquet;
- And I applaud your leadership on advocating improvements to a key piece of infrastructure - Highway 101 (let me also congratulate Bill Denyar on becoming President and CEO of the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce).
I share your enthusiasm and I want to talk about how we are all working towards the same goal: a vibrant business community, opportunities for our people, and a stronger and more prosperous future.
First and Foremost, lets look at where we are starting:
- Five consecutive balanced budgets;
- The highest employment levels we have seen in the last 30 years;
- Expansion at Apple Valley Foods;
- The West Brooklyn Rd. Underpass and Bridge construction;
- Improved programs at Kingstech;
- A lower debt to GDP;
- Major payments on our debt;
- And I commit to you today, my friends that this will be the last year that the debt will grow in our province - priority # 1 for my government. An historic achievement for our province!
Yes, the members of the opposition will want to veer my government off its fiscally responsible path, but I tell you today that I will not let this happen.
I want to build a new Nova Scotia—a new Nova Scotia that builds on our character as a people, our culture and heritage, our ties to the land and to the sea and our entrepreneurial spirit. A spirit that is alive and well here in Kings County.
One example being in our agricultural sector. We know farmers are working diligently to build sustainable businesses. That's the goal for all of us. My government believes in the agriculture sector and that's why last week Minister Brooke Taylor announced a $9.7-million investment package.
Of particular note, my government will use these dollars to help, in a targeted way, cattle, sheep, and pork farmers so they can retire their burdens of debt. But before investing public money to forgive these debts, the farm businesses must have a sustainable business model or transition to a new model.
The province must always invest wisely. By being smart, focused, and building on the strengths that we have, my government is helping grow a productive economy—which generates more resources we can invest back into our people and communities. This is the way we will build on our strengths to create new opportunities and a New Nova Scotia.
The new Nova Scotia will be a place that is recognized as a leader in creating economic opportunities through technology, innovation and environmental industries.
The new Nova Scotia will be a place where every child gets an education that prepares him or her for the challenges, opportunities and responsibilities of adulthood.
The new Nova Scotia will be a place that attracts and welcomes immigrants, a place that beckons home our friends and relatives (who have dispersed across the country) because the opportunities they left for are now available at home.
We have natural strengths in education, innovation and technology—we will focus on these.
- From farmers to pharmacists;
- From students to single parents;
- From our military to our mom-and-pop operations;
- Education, technology and innovation are steeped in all our activities.
Here in the Valley, innovation includes Information technology advances, like what Conor Vibert is doing at Acadia. Professor Vibert is behind a searchable, web-based database of expertise from international corporate leaders, so students here and outside Nova Scotia can learn leadership insights or compare business attitudes in the marketplace. Professor Vibert has also been able to sell part of the database to a textbook publisher.
What we do here at home is valued (and has value) way beyond our own borders.
- Information, ideas and talent are making the world go round;
- Technology is the vehicle;
- And money follows quickly after it.
I firmly believe we have in front of us, and ahead of us, some particular opportunities. The kind that may only be once in a lifetime. The kind that can improve the lives of all Nova Scotians, if we act now. And as your premier, I am not prepared to let any opportunity pass us by.
Nova Scotia will become a leader in Information technology. I am talking about IT and software businesses. Why? Because it is in information technology that the winning conditions of the new Nova Scotia will be set.
Our businesses and our workforce are very smart and technologically savvy, and this is drawing in new companies to the province and it's the reason homegrown firms are globally competitive. This is one of the best opportunities to keep young Nova Scotians in our province because the jobs that used to draw them away will instead be right here.
I'm also talking about technology being deployed and used in everything we do in our province. As an example, dairy farmers have their milk sent for testing for butterfat content and those results are accessible via the Internet. At Caseydale Farms in Centre Burlington, they unfortunately only have dial-up access to the Internet. Sometimes, Caseydale waits 20 minutes to log on and they're sometimes disconnected. This just adds needless work for their feed rationing process.
For this reason, I am committing to you that by the end of 2009 all Nova Scotians, no matter where they live, will have high speed Internet coverage. No one will be left behind, lacking access to this key highway in the knowledge economy.
The point is to become globally competitive, a magnet for the "best and the brightest", and a magnet for opportunities.
Secondly, because of our innovation in solid waste, Nova Scotia has an environmental industries sector with an international reputation, and there is more opportunity on the horizon. Right now, 4,500 tonnes of electronics end up in our landfills every year. Let's recycle them and make new products from what was once wasted. My friends, the green economy is here and it's here to stay.
That brings me to a third significant opportunity in front of us—the Atlantic Gateway. Nova Scotia ports are North America’s closest mainland links to Europe and to southern Asia via the Suez Canal. We are competing with New York and Norfolk, Virginia, to become the preferred gateway for the burgeoning container trade and the movement of goods in and out of global market places.
It's not only about containers. We would also use our infrastructure to increasingly become ports of call for cruise traffic and to use Halifax International Airport to grow air cargo. Nova Scotia’s future as the Atlantic Gateway will have impressive impacts on the economic future of our region and the rest of Canada.
It will mean faster delivery of goods throughout the world and thousands of new jobs. It’s up to all of us to ensure the Atlantic gateway is developed right here in Nova Scotia, an initiative which needs to begin with a multi-year agreement with the federal government for our transportation corridors and our 100-series highway system—one of my two priorities with Ottawa, the second of course being to fix the fiscal imbalance.
I am dedicated to the job, my friends, and my government is dedicated to the task ahead of us in building the new Nova Scotia. For I believe we have a responsibility to leave our province a little better for those that follow us.
Thank you.