Reports

Upcoming. By the Centre for Local Prosperity. A set of proposed pillars for community-rooted food systems in Atlantic Canada. These will help name the shared values, priorities, and systems conditions that are emerging from conversations across the region.  “This work is about listening first, and the goal is to turn what we hear into shared language, stronger relationships, practical policy, and community-rooted action.“

Upcoming. By the Centre for Local Prosperity.  This report will be designed as a practical tool for policy and organizing. It will speak to all four levels of government, including Indigenous, municipal, provincial, and federal, while also supporting communities, coalitions, and organizations working on the ground.  “Our goal isn’t to produce another report that just sits on a shelf, but to listen carefully, especially to those whose voices often get skipped, to identify shared patterns, and to build tools that can inform both policy and community organizing across Atlantic Canada.”

February, 2021. By the Centre for Local Prosperity

Local Procurement is when institutions with large budgets such as hospitals, colleges, municipalities, etc., commit to spending a portion of their budgets on local producers, suppliers, and services.

“Not only can a greater portion of public-sector local spending provide a direct economic stimulus, but spending with locally-owned businesses provides proven higher multiplier effects on local re-spending.”

The Centre has published a report on its program across Atlantic Canada to work with public-sector institutions to demonstrate leadership by expanding their community mandate to include the role of an economic engine. There could be a significant economic impact to our regional economies if more educational institutions, municipalities and other public sector anchors adopted a strategy for a small local shift in their procurement practices. This spending analysis forms the foundation for an institution’s local supplier interaction, and ultimately for building the local business base and economic health of communities in our region.

February, 2018. By the Centre for Local Prosperity

Import Replacement is a leading-edge local economic development strategy that seeks to produce locally those goods and services that are currently imported into a community or region as a way to keep money and wealth circulating in the region.

“Atlantic Canada’s overall level of leakage is 40% — that is, four out of every ten dollars spent leave
the economy.”

This report is the result of a project to explore the potential for import replacement in Atlantic Canada, particularly in small, rural and local communities. This project knits together the findings of two separate empirical investigations:
(1.) The first investigation determined ‘economic leakage’ using IMPLAN, a regional input-output statistics model using data from 110 sectors of the economy.
(2.) The second study collected data from eight focus groups conducted with business leaders, community leaders and residents in four communities: Shelburne, NS, Souris, PE, Miramichi, NB, and the Burin Peninsula, NL.