Western Economic Diversification Canada
www.wd-deo.gc.ca
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Policy, Advocacy and Coordination
Strategic Outcome:
Policies and programs that support the development of Western Canada.
The risks that might impact our outcomes, and ways these risks are managed, include:
- Diverse interests within Western Canada can make it difficult to discern a clear and common “western” perspective. This challenge is managed by both championing regional and community diversity (in our regional structure, plans, and flexibility), and by identifying key pan-western policies, programs and initiatives that benefit the West as a whole. Our priorities focus on areas of shared interest and opportunity, and working collaboratively with our partners and public sector counterparts.
- WD has an opportunity to align western Canadian interests on business productivity, diversification and technology commercialization, particularly with recent provincial initiatives and the federal Science and Technology Strategy. To not do so poses a risk of lost opportunity, with a cost to the diversification agenda. The department will drive further collaboration and opportunity through its outreach efforts, advocacy strategy, and collaboration.
As a relatively small department, with the objective of impacting a very large and strong economic region, WD must ensure that its policies and programs are responsive, strategic and focused with respect to the diversification challenges in the West. It also works collaboratively with other departments and partners to achieve results, and serves as an advocate for Western Canada within the federal system.
Areas of Opportunity:
- Champion and advocate for federal and intergovernmental collaboration to address key impediments to long-term growth and diversification and promote coordination in areas of federal or shared federal-provincial jurisdiction, such as labour shortages, border access, regulatory harmonization, inter-provincial and intergovernmental trade.
- Support activities such as research, conferences, consultation and feasibility studies that generate an improved understanding of the western Canadian economy and that focus on specific economic challenges and opportunities in the West.
We will measure our success for this strategic outcome by:
- Percentage of key informants with the opinion that WD activities provide policies and programs that support the economic development of Western Canada;
- Dollars of project funding (including both WD funding and funding leveraged from other project partners); and
- Percentage of completed projects that met or exceeded performance expectations.
