This initiative is a signal that Ottawa is now properly focusing its investments so that Atlantic Canada and our people can succeed in the new information economy. It is particularly encouraging to see that the areas targeted for investment-- innovation, research and development, training and regional development funding-- are consistent with the needs that have been identified throughout the region's business community.

The world's economy is undergoing changes that are more fundamental and dramatic than at any other time in History. Now it is knowledge, not proximity to market, which determines who succeeds and who fails. In an Internet economy, speed is of the essence. So, we have to get out of the blocks early and take the lead.

By any measure, we have the potential economic base. In this region, we possess natural resources beyond the scope of many countries with much larger populations. We understand the importance of trade in creating wealth. And the current generation of our youth is demonstrating some very positive new attitudes: According to a recent survey, more than 50 per cent of our young people indicated that they would prefer to start and lead their own business, rather than work for others. That is an essential shift from the mercantilist mindset of the past to the entrepreneurial skills of the future.

But we do have some serious gaps, which urgently need to be addressed. In its 1999 report, IT and the Knowledge Economy in Atlantic Canada, the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council stated, "...regardless of how the data is analyzed, it is ambiguously clear that Atlantic Canada's manufacturing industries are not adopting technology as quickly as the rest of Canada."

This can not continue and we are seeing signs of change.

Looking throughout the region, we see Clearwater Fine Foods using e-commerce to market its products worldwide, and Sobey's using advanced data technologies to manage its inventory, shipping and general business operations.

Similarly, the use of technology in our offshore oil and gas and marine industries is creating new knowledgeable and skills transfer—for example, the creation of a special high-speed data network connecting the Terra Nova Alliance’s offshore site with that company’s land-based offices. The benefits of such efforts in supporting a knowledge-based economy should not be underestimated.

By adopting these new technologies, incorporating them directly into their businesses processes, our resource sector can add value to their operations, adding new skills and new ideas which can themselves be exported, creating new wealth.

Just as important, we see examples of innovation in delivery of health services through telemedicine in each of our provinces, a growing focus on technology education programs by our educational institutions, and even our artists are experimenting with the use of technology to create and sell their products.

This is why Aliant endorses the decision to earmark $300 million for an Atlantic Innovation Fund, with the specific goal to foster innovation and technology.

This investment is timely and helpful in encouraging the adoption of new technologies by our small and medium businesses, our extensive resource sector, and for the effective delivery of public services.

Aliant, as the region’s largest telecommunications and IT employer, supports this strategic investment in a sector that has already demonstrated its success, and which holds enormous potential for growth in our region.

Economic development does not need to be a choice between limited options. It’s not a matter of rejecting the things of yesterday to embrace the things of tomorrow. On the contrary, tomorrow’s economic model is a combination of a resource-based model and a new model of information value. The information-based economy makes it possible to create many more ways of generating revenue. It’s an economy of innovation, and Atlantic Canadians, better than anyone else, understand the need to adapt and innovate. We have been doing it for centuries.

Everywhere around us we see examples of people applying new technologies to more traditional wavs. Whether it’s a fish processor who is using e-commerce to market product, an artist who is using new media to show works, or a farmer who is using the Internet to research pest-management practices, we can see evidence of the happy marriage between tradition and innovation.

Using the Atlantic Innovation Fund to create centres of excellence in research and development will promote innovation, which itself is best described in economic terms. Economics is the stuff of value, and innovation’s biggest strength is its ability to create value where it did not exist.

At Aliant, we firmly believe in innovation and we are investing heavily—on our own and in partnership with others—to develop applications for innovative new technologies, products and services that will not only benefit Atlantic Canadians, but can be exported to customers around the world.

Aliant is anxious and prepared to work with all levels of government and members of the private sector towards the mutually beneficial growth of this new economy in Atlantic Canada.