A new report from a private-sector panel says Atlantic Canada’s four provinces need to start acting as a single economic region if they want to unlock stronger growth over the next decade.
The Atlantic Economic Panel, a group of business leaders appointed by the federal government late last year, released its findings on Friday in Riverview, New Brunswick. The event drew federal cabinet minister Sean Fraser, who is responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, along with CEOs from across the region and New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt.
The panel spent the early part of the year meeting with business executives, regional associations and individuals across the four provinces to identify what is working in the regional economy and what is holding it back. Its report, titled “Bolder Ambitions: Greater Prosperity for All,” concludes that a “missing regional approach” is the central barrier to stronger growth.
Seven Recommendations for a Connected Region
The report lays out seven recommendations built around the idea of treating the region’s four provinces — with a combined population of 2.7 million — as one economy while preserving their individual cultures and identities. It argues that many economic opportunities are too large for any single province to pursue alone and calls for faster project decisions and stronger regional collaboration.
Among the specific targets, the panel wants at least half of all major infrastructure projects delivered through regional partnerships by 2035. It also calls for doubling the region’s exports to Europe to more than $30 billion and growing Atlantic Canada’s share of Canada’s defence and security industry to at least 25 per cent.
On natural resources, the report calls for “full development” of the region’s resource base, aiming to raise the value of Atlantic Canada’s natural resource economy by at least 50 per cent — from a 2024 baseline of $15 billion to $22.5 billion. It also seeks to double value-added processing across resource industries, from $4 billion in 2025 to at least $8 billion.
A Push on Immigration That Runs Against Federal Policy
The report also identifies workforce availability and difficulty attracting investment as key obstacles facing the region. To address this, it recommends creating a “One Atlantic Workforce Strategy” that would align the four provinces on immigration, education, skills training, housing and workforce planning.
It also asks Ottawa to negotiate a “made-in-Atlantic Canada” immigration agreement and to use the Atlantic Immigration Program as the primary tool for recruiting international talent. The panel wants the region to maintain annual population growth of around 1.8 per cent through a combination of immigration, higher workforce participation and attracting Canadians from other parts of the country.
That target sits well above current trends and appears at odds with the federal government’s present immigration approach. Ottawa has capped permanent resident admissions at 380,000 annually for the next three years, following a period in which admissions rose by nearly 80 per cent between 2015 and 2024, climbing from 272,000 to 484,000. The pullback came after concerns that rapid increases in immigration, including international students and temporary foreign workers, were straining housing supply and health care access.
According to Statistics Canada figures released this week, the pace of immigration reduction has contributed to Canada’s overall population growing just 0.5 per cent over the past year. Calls from regional premiers and universities for higher newcomer numbers have so far not led to policy changes.
Proposed $1-Billion Investment Fund
The report’s other major recommendation is the creation of an “Atlantic Prosperity Fund” worth $1 billion, intended to invest in the region’s most promising entrepreneurs and businesses. According to the report, the fund would help companies expand into global markets while keeping their headquarters in Atlantic Canada, and would be structured as a partnership involving the federal government, the four Atlantic provinces, Indigenous partners, institutional investors, pension funds and the private sector.
The panel’s language echoes the federal government’s own “One Canadian Economy” messaging, which has been used to encourage provinces to reduce interprovincial trade barriers and has also become the basis for federal legislation aimed at speeding up major infrastructure projects nationally.
This article references reporting from:
