Atlantic Panel Proposes C$1B Growth Fund for Four Provinces

Atlantic Canada’s four provinces should begin acting as one connected economic region by 2035, according to a new report from the Atlantic Economic Panel.

The proposal is not for political union. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador would retain their own governments while working together to remove trade and labour-mobility barriers, pursue major investments and build shared capacity. Panel chair Don Mills captured the report’s impatience bluntly: “We’re tired of talking about potential. Let’s get it done.”

One Atlantic Canada, Not One Government

The report’s central idea is a “One Atlantic Canada” approach: four distinct provinces operating with greater economic coordination.

That push for a more integrated Atlantic economy echoes the region’s broader coordination efforts, including the Maritime Provinces’ move toward a regional electricity grid, which underscored how shared infrastructure can support growth. The same logic carries into the report’s call for a single investment platform and a workforce strategy that crosses provincial borders.

It recommends presenting major opportunities through a single regional investment platform, while creating a regional workforce strategy that recognizes credentials across provincial borders. The strategy would draw on immigration, mobility, workforce participation and training to address shortages.

Frank McKenna, the former New Brunswick premier, said the region’s leaders have been handed “a bit of a gift here,” adding that it is up to them to “accept the baton that’s been passed to them and finish the race.”

The panel also wants at least half of major infrastructure projects delivered through cross-provincial partnerships, putting a practical test to the report’s call for regional co-operation.

Electricity Is the Major Test

The most concrete institutional proposal is a Regional Independent System Operator for Atlantic electricity.

The operator would co-ordinate planning, operations, investment, cost allocation and power flows across an integrated regional electricity system. The panel has set a target of more than C$25 billion in electricity investment by 2035.

A shared power system could become an early measure of whether the four provinces can turn broad regional ambitions into working arrangements. It would require co-operation not just on a shared vision, but on the details of how investment and electricity flows are managed across provincial boundaries.

For major projects, ts2.tech reported that the panel also proposes a co-ordinated federal-provincial review process with firm timelines and safeguards for Indigenous rights and the environment.

Big Investment and Export Goals

The report places large targets beside its institutional proposals. It calls for a $1-billion Atlantic Prosperity Fund to invest in promising entrepreneurs and businesses, and seeks C$100 billion in new natural-resources investment.

It also aims to increase the value of the region’s natural-resource economy by 50 per cent and double exports to Europe to more than C$30 billion.

Those goals point to an agenda extending well beyond one sector. The panel’s vision links resource development, business growth, trade and energy, arguing that the region’s opportunities are larger when pursued together.

The report also calls for faster adoption of artificial intelligence. According to ts2.tech, it sets a target for 80 per cent of Atlantic businesses to use AI by 2035.

A Proposal Awaiting Decisions

The report is a blueprint, not an adopted program. Ottawa says it will assess the recommendations rather than adopt them immediately, according to ts2.tech.

That leaves the work of translating the document’s targets into institutions, financing and agreements among governments, businesses and other partners. The report asks those partners to design the prosperity fund’s mandate and governance within one year, while calling for annual public reporting against its 2035 measures, ts2.tech reported.

Federal Minister Sean Fraser urged a collective response at the report’s release. “Our ambition can’t be limited by our provincial borders,” he said. “We have an opportunity to transform our enormous potential … into prosperity.”

The panel has set out its direction: a connected Atlantic economy without erasing provincial identities. The next challenge is whether the region’s leaders choose to build it.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3 | Source 4