Initiatives

Established under the Atlantic Workforce Partnership, the Atlantic Apprenticeship Harmonization Project is harmonizing 16 trades. Signed in May 2014, the Memorandum of Understanding regarding Atlantic Apprenticeship Harmonization commits the Atlantic Provinces to:

1. Better meet the labour demands of businesses through improved mobility of apprentices.
2. Provide businesses, labour, and training institutions working in the Atlantic region with standardized approaches to apprenticeship training and trades certification systems across provinces.
3. Increase the efficiency of the apprenticeship and trades certification system through collaborative design and development of standardized tools and processes.
4. Reduce apprenticeship completion times and improve completion rates through enhanced access to alternate training and coordinated Atlantic training calendars.

Signed in June 2015, the Atlantic Provinces committed through the Atlantic Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Apprenticeship Mobility to reduce barriers to apprentice mobility and leverage employment and training opportunities through mutual recognition for training successfully completed by apprentices and pre-apprentices who move permanently to or work temporarily in one of the four Atlantic Provinces.

Launched in July 2016, the Atlantic Growth Strategy advanced inclusive growth in Atlantic Canada through enhanced federal and provincial collaboration. Atlantic Growth Strategy is based on five pillars of action:

• Skilled Workforce/ immigration
• Innovation
• Clean growth and climate change
• Trade and investment
• Infrastructure

Initiatives under the Atlantic Growth Strategy include:

• The Atlantic Immigration Program
• Regional Electricity Cooperation and Strategic Infrastructure initiative and the Clean Power Roadmap
• Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Strategy
• Enhancing broadband

To build upon the successes of the Atlantic Procurement Agreement and in support of the Canada Free Trade Agreement, the provinces committed to an Atlantic Trade and Procurement Partnership Memorandum of Understanding to enhance trade and procurement opportunities. Through the Memorandum of Understanding, provinces commit to the following goals:

1. Increasing the harmonization of practices for procurement within the four provinces.
2. Leveraging pan-Canadian and international trade agreements, where possible, to further liberalize trade and remove barriers in Atlantic Canada by identifying issues which may impede trade (and referring to appropriate bodies for action).
3. Collaborating to increase opportunities for businesses and workers in the region.
4. Providing regular updates of partnership progress and success to the Council of Atlantic Premiers.

Established in  December 2020, The Atlantic Domestic Homicide Review Network will enhance information sharing between the Atlantic Provinces, jointly consider existing system responses, prevention efforts, identify partnership opportunities with research and academic institutions and identify best practices.

Memorandum of Understanding – Atlantic Domestic Homicide Review Network

The Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness was jointly established in 2015 to provide strategic advice and operational oversight to governments to steer the development and implementation of a joint regulatory reform agenda to improve their economic competitiveness. The mandate of the office is creating a better climate for doing business in and between the provinces by reducing red tape created by unnecessary regulatory differences between the provinces, and by eliminating barriers to the free flow of goods and services between them. The purpose of this office is to help make the entire Maritime region the most streamlined and competitive region for the conduct of business in Canada.

The Premiers’ Charter of Governing Principles for Regulation and the Maritime Premiers’ Plan of Action for Regional Regulatory Reform guides the work of the Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness.

Regional regulatory alignment initiatives completed or underway include:

• Aligning the date the minimum wage rate changes in each province
• Mutual recognition across the region of safety equipment for head and foot protection, and training for occupational health and safety committees and first aid
• Adopting a streamlined licensing process for insurance adjusters
• Enhancing mobility and strengthening technical safety trades through the creation of an Atlantic Technical Safety Act
• Improvement to healthcare worker mobility, beginning with regional certifications.

Established in June 2012, the Atlantic Workforce Partnership (AWP) assists provinces in preparing for changing skill requirements and anticipated labour demands.

The AWP consists of a Secretariat that rotates among the four Atlantic Provinces every three years and provides support and coordination to AWP Deputy Ministers, Senior Officials and Working Groups as directed by the Council of Atlantic Premiers.

Over the next three years, the AWP will focus on leveraging its collective capacity to make Atlantic Canada a leader in:

• Responsive demand-led training options;
• Clear pathways to employment and licensure; and
• Strategic recruitment and retention of talent across key sectors

Premiers have agreed to the following six strategic priorities for 2024-2027:

1. Apprenticeship and Trades
2. Skills Training and Micro-credentials
3. Foreign Qualification Recognition and Labour Mobility
4. Immigration and Population Growth
5. Federal Labour Market Programs
6. Labour Market Information

Nova Scotia is the current host and chair of the Atlantic Workforce Partnership.

Mandates

Apprenticeship and Trades:

Advance regional processes and standards to improve how people enter the trades/work toward certification and increase system capacity across the region.

Approach: Established Atlantic Apprenticeship Harmonization Partnership Office (AAHPMO) and maintain the Apprenticeship Management System (AMS) as working groups.

Skills Training and Micro-credentials:

Advance expansion of adult training options across regions, with a focus on demand-led training and micro-credentials.

Approach: Established Skills Training and Micro-credentials Working Group.

Foreign Qualification Recognition and Labour Mobility:

Advance mobility tools, reduction of barriers and recognition of qualifications across the region.

Approach: Established Foreign Qualification Recognition and Labour Mobility Working Group.

Immigration and Population Growth:

Advance Atlantic positioning on immigration, enhance recruitment and retention efforts across the region.

Approach: Established Immigration and Population Growth Working Group.

Federal Labour Market Programs:

Advance Atlantic positioning on labour market agreements and programs and enhance delivery of employment programs across the region.

Approach: Established Federal Programs Working Group.

Labour Market Information:

Advance Atlantic research agenda to support AWP strategic priorities; enhance production/dissemination of labour market information in the region.

Approach: Established Labour Market Information Working Group.

On March 1^st 2019, the Atlantic Provinces committed to working with the Government of Canada on the Clean Power Roadmap for Atlantic Canada. Building on the Regional Electricity Cooperation and Strategic Infrastructure study from 2018, the Clean Power Roadmap will enhance the generation, transmission and use of clean power across the region. At the Council of Atlantic Premiers’ meeting held January, 2020 in St. John’s Newfoundland and Labrador, Québec participated in discussions on opportunities to develop, transmit, and exchange Eastern Canada’s clean energy resources.

On August 23, 2022, the Atlantic Premiers issued a statement supporting the Joint Declaration of Intent between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of Canada on Establishing a Germany-Canada Hydrogen Alliance.