A declaration of co-operation has been signed by 10 municipalities in northern Nova Scotia, including the six in Pictou County, as part of forming the new Regional Enterprise Network.
The next step is to have East Hants, Truro, Cumberland, Amherst, Westville, New Glasgow, Pictou, Trenton, Stellarton and the Municipality of Pictou County sign a draft inter-municipal services agreement and have a final draft come before each council for approval.
“This RENS will not have the same focus of the RDA (regional development agency),” said Lisa MacDonald, CAO for the Town of New Glasgow. “It will be focused on business attraction as well as supporting current businesses by helping them grow and expand.”
RENs was first introduced in 2013 after the federal government cut funding to individual regional development agencies that were geared towards promoting economic development in Nova Scotia communities.
RENs will be funded by both the province and municipal units and involve municipal units working together. When RENS was first announced, it was suggested that Pictou and Antigonish counties would be grouped together as well as St. Mary’s and Sherbrooke, but Pictou County has since asked to join forces with Cumberland County and the Town of Truro.
MacDonald said the service agreement is still a working document because CAOs have been tasked with bringing the final draft before their respective councils.
In light of the fact that Springhill has been going through its own dissolution, the document hasn’t been a priority for the town.
She said a draft funding formula is also being worked out and the goal is to have the entire service agreement in place for April 2015.
MacDonald said she doesn’t think a RENs office will be set up in Pictou County, but rather Cumberland County because of the some of the opportunities that can come from being aligned with municipalities along the Trans Canada Highway 104.
Michael Johnson, director of regional planning and development for the Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism, said he is pleased that all six RENs in the province are close to being established, including Pictou County.
Some are further along than others with the establishment of boards and CEOs hired, but none have completed their strategic plans yet.
The focus of all the RENs will be on business rather than community development, but each REN will have its own needs.
For example, he said, tourism is a big economic factor in the south shore while the Cumberland and Pictou REN is looking more at business attraction and the benefits of having the Trans-Canada Highway run through its municipal units.
Work on RENs has begun in other areas in the province and include:
- Valley REN: the Glooscap First Nation; the towns of Berwick, Bridgetown, Hantsport, Kentville, Middleton, Windsor and Wolfville; and the municipalities of Kings County and West Hants. A board of directors and CEO is in place.
- Western REN: the towns of Yarmouth and Digby and the municipalities of Yarmouth, Argyle, Clare and Digby. It has a board of directors and CEO in place. It is the first REN to be established, so it has a board of directors in place, CEO, and recently signed a funding agreement with the province.
- Antigonish and Guysborough REN: Waiting to sign its inter-municipal agreement.
- South Shore REN: nine municipalities, including five in the County of Lunenburg, the Region of Queens Municipality, and three in Shelburne County, are joining to create the South Shore Regional Enterprise Network. It has signed its inter-municipal service agreement and is recruiting a CEO.
- Cape Breton REN: the municipalities of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Inverness, Richmond and Victoria counties. A board of directors is in place.
