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Donald J. Savoie reigns as the eminent authority on regional development, so when Progress wanted to assess how we’re doing with a long view, we approached the source.
Savoie’s thoughts mark an important milestone—in 1987 the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency was launched. At its 20-year anniversary gala in September I met Savoie in person for the first time. I asked if he would write an article about where the region goes from here. He agreed. But first we felt it would be worthwhile for him to give context, by assessing ACOA’s two-decade track record.
For those who don’t know, Savoie wrote the original white paper on what an Atlantic Canadian regional economic development agency might look like. His insights, with the added benefit of hindsight, are well worth your time.
I wanted to know if, after 20 years, he thinks this region is more entrepreneurial. More export focused. Doing enough R&D. Marketing ourselves better. Making inroads in Ottawa. Those objectives were the original themes of Savoie’s white paper and they still apply today. The question is: Are we making progress? And what should we be focused on now?
For me 1987 also marks when I started asking questions. I was 23 years old, had my first publishing job, and was starting to pay attention to the economy and politics. And even though I recall the buzz about ACOA, for my money the youthful new premier of New Brunswick on the November 1987 cover of Atlantic Insight (the first magazine I worked on) marked the turning point for the region.
One of our editors is in her twenties. She sees this issue of Progress from a completely different perspective than I do. Anniversary of ACOA-schmoa. There is so much cool stuff going on, she says. Take the Entrepreneur Of The Year winners. They’re buying up businesses,
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figuring out how to move stuff around the globe, and innovating like crazy. And what are they increasingly focused on? Finding enough workers, engaging them, balancing their family lives, and succession planning.
It’s a new world out there. Economic development is not about the big home runs anymore. To Donald Savoie’s credit, he made that point in his original white paper. A follower of Peter Drucker, he knew 20 years ago that the future was going to be about making your company, your city, your region as attractive as possible to smart, talented people. Now cities like Bangor, Saint John, and Halifax are actively trying to mobilize the brainpower and connectivity of these 20- and 30-somethings with their Fusion networks. Everyone’s talking about immigration. And active citizenship is the new, new thing.
We’ve got a few youthful premiers again, including one in New Brunswick who considers Frank McKenna to be a role model. It’s no coincidence that Shawn Graham is rolling out a vision that looks ahead at the next 20 years. He’s asking the tough questions about how self-sufficiency can be achieved for his province.
I am sure that he follows the work of Donald Savoie. After all, Savoie has spent a lifetime asking how little dogs like Atlantic Canada can eat, given the truism that big dogs eat first.
In his next installment Savoie will offer some sound advice to Atlantic Canadians and to ACOA, noting that the situation we are facing today is much more urgent than it was 1987. For 20 years, the big dogs have been Ontario and Quebec. We now know that in a global economy the big dogs are going to be China and India. And there is a new little dog. It’s called North America.
The questions facing 23-year-olds are different in 2007. They must help our leaders focus.
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