Information technology emerged as Atlantic Canada’s most popular export in last week’s trade mission to New England. New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord and Newfoundland Minister of Industry Sandra Kelly were among representatives from four Canadian provinces who visited Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut to discuss export opportunities and commercial partnerships between Atlantic Canada and New England.
Forty Canadian businesses, many scouting for potential distributorships in this area, also attended the Warwick meeting hosted by Gov. Lincoln Almond.
Information technology is the most-promoted Atlantic Canadian export, which could prove fortuitous for Rhode Island business. It is estimated that the astonishing new growth among the state’s high-tech industry creates 2,000 new jobs annually – most of which cannot be filled.
New Brunswick in particular has made huge strides in the technology field in the past decade. The province is fully digital, with two fiber-optics rings and advanced multimedia broadband capabilities – anyone with cable TV can hook into a high-speed Internet connection via I Magic TV. Those without computers in their homes can use one of 211 computer access centers located throughout the province. The centers, which boast 270,000 visitors annually, offer free e-mail access and more than 3,000 courses each year.
New jobs have been created as a result of New Brunswick’s technological development; the province has gone from the highest rate of unemployment in Canada (15 percent in 1987) to 9.6 percent in January 1999.
“We’ve embraced change in the new economy,” said Lord. “We will still have the best salmon you’ll find anywhere, but we’re also adding to the things we export.”
Later this year, software developed in New Brunswick will be used in a New Hampshire training program to help train school teachers on the Internet.
The changing economies of both Canada and New England over the past decade have seen both moving away from some of their more traditional industries, like fishing and lumber, and into the ever-growing information/technology sector. How does the Ocean State stand to benefit?
”It has the opportunity to partner with companies that are needing a more secure labor force, particularly in the IT area,” Kelly said.
More established industries common to both Atlantic Canada and New England – fishing, oil-based products, forestry materials — could also be enhanced by new technology, Kelly suggested. Northstar Technology’s Netmind, for example, monitors the performance of a fishing trawl while it is being towed, allowing the boat’s captain to monitor what is happening with the net. The company suggests its product could aid the region’s conservation efforts.
Kelly cited the centuries-old history of trade between the two regions as incentive to renew old bonds.
“There are good transportation links between Canada and New England,” said Kelly. “As trade barriers came down, we worked to renew these historic trade links.”
Lord also mentioned the cultural ties between Atlantic Canada and New England, noting, “It’s easier to do business with someone when you know how they live and work.”
With as much as $1 billion worth of goods being traded between the United States and Canada each day, it is a connection that has endured. Lord mentioned that more goods are shipped between Detroit and Windsor than between any pair of U.S. cities.
Trade between Atlantic Canadian businesses and New England companies has increased significantly in recent years; last year’s trade mission to New England generated $28 million in business for companies in the U.S. and Atlantic Canada.
“You are our closest partners,” Lord said. “This relationship needs to be promoted and enforced.”
