April Results Matter

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1 April 2017 Greetings, and welcome to the latest edition of our quarterly newsletter. As a valued stakeholder of Opportunities NB (ONB), I want to take this opportunity to share with you what we have focused on as an organization in our first two years of operation and share our results for I also want to take a look ahead at how we will continue to deliver strong results for the province. Results Matter I am pleased to report that ONB had a tremendous first year and is on track for a successful second year. ONB exceeded all of its key targets, delivering job commitments to create up to 2,965 jobs on a target of 1,500. This is significantly higher than the results achieved by any predecessor organization in recent memory. Even better, the average salary anticipated for these jobs is $46,812, which surpassed our targeted range of $32,000 to $44,000. Companies typically create and fill these new positions over a period of three to five years. Many of the job commitments in New Brunswick have been filled, and we will continue to work with the

2 businesses involved to ensure they are able to create the remaining committed jobs. At the same time, the ONB team continued to work with business owners across New Brunswick, guiding them through the growth process, connecting them with export opportunities, and helping them access funding.

3 We are helping New Brunswick companies build to future success both inside and outside our borders. In October 2016, ONB s export team participated in a nine-day multi-sector mission in China, led by Premier Brian Gallant, exploring new opportunities for trade and investment with the growing Chinese economy. We helped bring 16 New Brunswick businesses - including McCain Foods, Maritime Hydraulic, Cooke Aquaculture, C-Therm Technologies and Wee College and two local universities to China, with the goal of developing new links in the growing Chinese economy. ONB has been very supportive. We ve been lucky to have wonderful people assigned to us and I am encouraged by how aggressive our reps have been in helping us grow. Together we keep bringing the company outside our comfort zone. Your export development assistance will allow us to accelerate the speed at which we ll get to market outside the province, particularly with our sales and marketing efforts. - Daniella DeGrace, ProcedureFlow Meanwhile, our success and growth potential are gaining recognition from industry publications. In 2016, Site Selection Magazine ranked ONB number two in the 2016 Canadian Competitiveness Rankings, behind the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Growth and ahead of Invest Quebec. Site Selection Magazine delivers expansion planning information to 45,000 executives of fastgrowing firms, meaning New Brunswick s story is being shared with business leaders far and wide. We often wonder how well we measure up with other jurisdictions, but as the following graphic shows, New Brunswick is extremely competitive with other jurisdictions in Canada. Not only are we competitive - we excel in attracting business to this province.

4 These results are for 2015/ We are on track for an equally successful year for 2016/ Results like these are only possible because they are driven by a team of highly motivated, skilled and passionate people. We believe that our strength lies in our culture, and we were thrilled to recently be recognized in the 2017 list of Atlantic Canada s Top Employers. TALENT RECRUITMENT EXECUTIVES ONB is committed to the successful development and attraction of a vibrant, highly skilled, and multicultural workforce for New Brunswick. In 2016, we launched a new talent recruitment division to support that mission. This is a unique service in Canada and is proving to be a key differentiator and value-add to companies. Our five Talent Recruitment Executives (TREs), located throughout the province, work directly with federal and provincial education and industry partners to create, develop, and sustain a skilled workforce in all sectors and industries. Since the launch of this division, our TREs have: Attended more than 170 jobs fairs and networking events Advised more than 2,100 employers and job seekers on workforce needs and solutions in New Brunswick Shared more than 3,000 jobs with their networks of community partners, job seekers, employment counsellors, universities and colleges Screened and referred over 2,200 candidates through job fairs and direct interventions Referred clients to partner programs and services more than 800 times Immigration is also an important facet of their work. Through the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program, more than 1,050 highly skilled candidates immigrated to our province in ONB has identified key target countries and skilled workforce targets with industry to participate in international recruitment events, and our TREs are hard at work on this file. The TRE team is unique to our economic development model, and we are proud to work with them to provide the great workforce needed by New Brunswick companies to be successful.

5 INCREASED ACCOUNTABILITY Since launching in April 2015, ONB has implemented more than 20 new policies aimed at increasing the governance of ONB s financial assistance to companies, creating best in class practices and strengthening the health of our portfolio. Incentives ONB uses a variety of tools and expertise to attract companies to New Brunswick. One tool in particular, corporate incentives, has garnered significant media coverage in recent weeks. There is usually a narrative surrounding corporate welfare in these stories, while the positive outcomes are often overlooked. I fully support the public s desire to understand this issue, and we recognize that we need to be as transparent as possible. The truth is that investment attraction is an extremely competitive business. Companies do not just land on our doorstep. It takes many years of hard work by our investment attraction team and others to make these deals happen. Incentives are part of the discussion, not just in New Brunswick but all over the world. Globally, IBM considers its Fredericton location as a key innovation hub for cybersecurity and IT services. We have a rich history of driving security innovation in New Brunswick, through the birth of Q1 Labs in 2011 with the University of New Brunswick, and collaborating with McCain Foods. We ve worked and will continue to work vigorously with Opportunities NB, the University of New Brunswick, and McCain Foods to catapult the Province s reputation for cultivating a knowledge-worker economy. - Dino Trevisani, President, IBM Canada

6 Ultimately, companies decide to set up in a jurisdiction based on three key factors: skill, scale and cost. Essentially, Can I get the right people, can I get enough of them, and is this move cost effective? Any company that lands in New Brunswick does so because we knocked on their door first and we were able to demonstrate a New Brunswick solution to skill, scale and cost that made sense for them. Incentives are a necessary tool used to bring investments to the province. We live in a competitive world and every jurisdiction offers incentives. Incentives work: This past fiscal year, the ONB investment attraction team closed 22 deals, bringing many high-paying jobs to New Brunswick. While incentives are not the primary reason companies choose a particular jurisdiction, they open the door for discussion. We live in an incentive-driven economy, and for New Brunswick to compete on a world stage, we must have the same tools at our disposal. We make money: The Return on Investment (ROI) on all payroll rebates in New Brunswick in was $1.46, which means for every $1 spent, we received $1.46 in return. That is a solid return on investment. Low cost: In the last five years, the average spent on investment attraction incentives in New Brunswick was less than $7 million per year less than the province spends on office supplies per year or about half a day of health care. Myth: There is a persistent myth that companies leave New Brunswick after their incentives run out. This is not the case. When New Brunswick is able to attract a company, our experience shows the company not only stays in the province, but grows, and often surpasses its original job creation targets. Companies attracted to the province more than 20 years ago, such as IBM, Xerox, RBC, Exxon Mobil and UPS, have remained in New Brunswick and continue to grow and prosper. In summary, the use of incentives to attract new business is necessary. However, we are committed to ensuring that we are prudent with taxpayers money. This is a guiding principle in all of our decisions. ONB AT WORK: REVJET At ONB, we pride ourselves on being able to meet the needs of virtually any business. Whether it is export assistance, workforce attraction or funding questions, we are a one-stop shop for businesses small and large. One New Brunswick success story demonstrates just how flexible we are when it comes to helping businesses succeed.

7 In 2014, Silicon Valley-based LifeStreet Media (a leader in global in-app advertising for Apple ios, Android, and Facebook developers) spun off some of its technology into a new company called RevJet. Several members of the RevJet R&D division worked in the Ukraine and wished to work in a new location. As a result, RevJet began to evaluate a way to accommodate them, and they looked to Canada. With RevJet s official launch set for October 2015, the company needed to be confident that its established development staff would remain safe, happy, and healthy. Through relationships that ONB had already established in Silicon Valley, our staff connected with RevJet officials and was able to show them why New Brunswick was the right choice for their new offices. To assist RevJet in setting up shop in New Brunswick, ONB was able to: Showcase the New Brunswick value proposition Provide RevJet officials with valuable information on available credits such as the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program and the Province s R&D Tax Credit Work with the province s Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour (PETL) and its Population Growth Division (PGD) to prepare RevJet staff for the transition to New Brunswick, including assistance accessing work permits and entry visas Engage the Saint John Multicultural and Newcomers Resource Centre, who assisted the arriving workers with settlement plans and English tutors along with information on real estate, banking, local community groups, religious institutions and health services Between RevJet employees and their family members, the city of Saint John saw a total of 48 new arrivals as part of this arrangement, including 20 employees and 28 spouses and children. Achieving success with a project of this magnitude required excellent communication and teamwork between several departments and agencies. The full scope of ONB s services was on display. RevJet s situation was a unique one, and its successful resolution demonstrates the agility that ONB and its wealth of strong partners throughout the province bring to the table in order to create new opportunities.

8 What the Future Holds Business confidence is on the rise. According to the Business Confidence Index, commissioned by TD Bank, business people are more optimistic about their own companies than the economy overall. In recent months, business confidence in New Brunswick increased by 9.8 points. There are many reasons why I think this confidence is well placed. We are making great strides with business services centres, cybersecurity and Smart Grid technologies. New Brunswick is a leader in the business services centre sector. In fact, one in every 20 New Brunswickers (an estimated 18,000 people) is employed by one of the 90 centres located across our province, including home-based work. It represents one of the largest export sectors for the province, generating close to $1 billion per year in export revenue. ONB is working with the industry to develop a public awareness campaign to inform the public and potential employees about the types of jobs available and the benefits of working in the sector. ONB is also leading the development of the cybersecurity sector in New Brunswick. Cybersecurity is the hottest and fastest growing segment of the technology sector. In May 2016, we launched CyberNB, presenting a vision for New Brunswick to be the Canadian epicentre for cybersecurity by We are seeing great results. Through CyberNB, we are working with UK-based Cyber Essentials Direct Limited, an organization that provides a toolset for small and medium-sized businesses to help mitigate the risk of a cyberattack. We are also working with Cyber Essentials and national partners from New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario to establish certification bodies that will ultimately result in Canadian companies obtaining their own Cyber Essentials certification. I am looking forward to sharing more good news with you in the coming months. We are working on a number of exciting opportunities in the cyber, financial technology and financial services sectors. In addition to these, we are moving forward in new areas like marijuana, financial technology and digital data analytics. At ONB, we have many responsibilities, including supporting the growth of NB companies, attracting new investment and stimulating GDP activity. However, at the end of the day, it comes down to this: We help grow our economy in order to generate revenue to pay for the things we all want and expect, like health care and education. We provide new opportunities for the people of

9 New Brunswick, including recent grads and immigrants, and people from outside the province looking to move here or return home. We promote our province internally and abroad to the world, positioning New Brunswick as a great place to live and work. My team is committed to making this happen, and we all need to be pulling in the same direction. I would like to thank our many dedicated partners in New Brunswick. Together, we can change the dialogue in the province, create a culture of success and positivity, and make everyone #NBProud. Stephen Lund, Chief Executive Officer Opportunities NB Keep up-to-date with ONB by bookmarking the ONB Blog.