Celebrating Our Best Quarter to Date

April 1 marked the beginning of Opportunities NB’s (ONB) fourth year of operation. The first quarter of this new fiscal year was ONB’s best to date. I remain extremely proud of the team we’ve assembled, the work they have done over the past three years, and the difference we are making for all New Brunswickers. 

Our organization has one of the best job creation records in the country, per capita, and has delivered better results than any previous New Brunswick economic development group in at least the last 20 years. ONB is obtaining these exceptional results despite offering the lowest amount of incentives in Canada (per $100 of GDP).

For perspective, Amazon has received incentive proposals of $8.5B and $7B from U.S. cities for HQ2. Compare that to our total of less than $7m in annual rebates to attract thousands of new jobs. Talk about value for money!

Simply put; we’re doing more with less.

2018: Off to a Great Start

ONB continues to proactively reach out to companies across the province and the world, and that has led to an excellent start to this fiscal year. Our first three years resulted in commitments of nearly 9, 500 jobs to be created over the next three to five years. In the first quarter of Fiscal 2018-19, we have already exceeded the total number of deals we completed all last year and created almost the same number of jobs in the process. At this rate, ONB is well on pace to surpass the stellar job results achieved in Fiscal 2017-18.

Since April 1, some highlights:

• TD announced it will create a new Finance Operations centre in Greater Moncton, creating up to 440 high-skill finance jobs over seven years;
• TD Insurance announced the expansion of its Saint John workforce, creating up to 250 new jobs over the next seven years;
• Siemens Canada and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories both announced new cybersecurity operations in Fredericton;
• Canopy Growth, one of the world’s largest cannabis companies, announced it will create up to 136 new jobs in Fredericton over the next six years;
• India’s Tech Mahindra, one of the world’s largest IT companies with over 112,000 employees in 90 countries, selected New Brunswick as a growth location and will create up to 116 jobs over the next five years of operation in Riverview;
• Resson, New Brunswick’s Rockstar agritech company, will create up to 31 new jobs over the next three years. Incidentally, Tech Mahindra’s parent company, Mahindra Group, has also become a strategic partner of Resson. One of the largest companies in India has recognized the great things coming out of New Brunswick; and
• In partnership with Knowledge Park, ONB announced construction is commencing on a new 135,000 sq ft building dedicated to meeting the needs of our growing cybersecurity ecosystem.

From startup, to scale up, to increasing productivity and innovation, to market diversification, the ONB team has helped over 800 New Brunswick-based export companies. I am pleased to share that we will be building on this work with a soon-to-be-launched Scale-Up Initiative that shows great promise.

Our Strategic Approach is Working

We have had great success at building new economic sectors like cybersecurity and cannabis. This month saw ONB take its first step towards making digital health and technology yet another New Brunswick strength.

We are taking an integrated approach to our investment efforts. For example, the support we are providing to Xplornet will bring 5G internet to thousands of families across rural New Brunswick, and serve as a platform for the future of education, digital health, and social mobility in our province.

Fredericton’s cybersecurity cluster, the beginnings of a digital health sector in Saint John, the 5G internet connectivity across rural New Brunswick — it’s all part of that same integrated approach. ONB’s mission is to create jobs and wealth for New Brunswickers, and our results speak for themselves.

Transparency

ONB takes its obligation to be transparent and accountable to New Brunswickers very seriously. As such, you can now access ONB’s actual and committed job results via our website. A visit to the transparency section of our website will also show you exactly which companies we’ve worked with and the amount of investment ONB has undertaken in each case.

At a time when several jurisdictions courting Amazon are facing criticism for keeping their HQ2 bids secret, ONB is one of the most transparent economic development agencies in North America.

We are not only leading in results, we are leading in accountability.

Our Door is Always Open 

Our results are not accidental, it all comes from the hard work of a team of dedicated professionals; people who believe they are making a difference in our province. ONB will continue to work hard to make the rest of this fiscal year just as successful.

If you believe in the work our team is doing, and in bringing new opportunity to this province, you can be part of it. Talk to your friends loudly and often about the great things happening here in New Brunswick. Tell your family and colleagues how much you love living and working here. And, if anyone you know has questions about starting or growing a business in New Brunswick, tell them to give us a call.

Great things are happening in New Brunswick and we are just getting started.

Phone: +1 (506) 453-5471

Email: [email protected]

Follow me on Twitter at @StephenLundCEO.