Newfoundland and Labrador Product Development Strategy

- 209 -barrel for government handouts for community projects. Getting political leaders to understandthe potential and how best to proceed with development is critical. It’s past time that this sectorbe approached professionally as a serious economic sector.Another similar issue is the need to develop a ‘Culture of Entrepreneurship’ within industry,which is widely lacking. Entrepreneurship is not being rewarded; in fact, often the opposite istrue. The EI program causes real harm in this respect by supporting the option of seasonal andshort term employment, providing an attractive option to entrepreneurship for many, or even tocontinuing in jobs beyond the qualifying period.HRSD programs also cause more harm than good in many instances, particularly when they areapplied to industry organizations seeking support for staff. Only under-qualified people areeligible and only for short term employment. While this may be OK for entry level jobs, it isclearly destructive when applied to jobs that need people that have professional skills, arecredible to industry in the role they are playing and able to continue in the role long enough tobecome truly competent and see the effort through to completion. Funding people in thesepositions using these programs is designed to fail. And fail it usually does.People hired by the RED board and RTAs need to have professional qualifications, relevantskills and credibility if they are to provide effective leadership and follow-through. Treatingthese jobs as make-work for the unemployed is a disaster.There are programs in place to provide capital for projects but really no provision to supportthem in the operating phase. This is most particularly an issue with respect to community-basedand not-for-profit initiatives, such as museums, interpretive centres, cultural programs andevents, visitor information centres and the like. Rarely are such initiatives able to survivethemselves in the absence of on-going government support. This is a simple reality. This issueneeds to be addressed in funding programs.Provincially operated heritage attractions, parks and visitor information services are seriouslyunder-funded, with respect to both capital improvements and operations.There appears to be a lack of focus on incentives in tourism product development in theprovince. The provincial Economic Diversification and Growth Enterprises (EDGE) Programand the Direct Equity Tax Credit Program are examples of incentive programs that appear to beunderutilized.Federal funding assistance programs are generalized for all industries and also for the AtlanticRegion as a whole in some cases (ACOA) or the country (HRSD). They don’t always fit wellwith the peculiarities of the tourism sector or the conditions prevailing within the province. Inthe absence of federal-provincial agreements to provide customized programs for the sector orthe region, their fit to the need or opportunity can be weakened.Looking to the future, a concerted effort needs to be made generally to design governmentsupport programs to be responsive of the real needs and opportunities. They need to be strategybased.THE ECONOMIC PLANNING GROUP of Canada Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism Product DevelopmentD. W. Knight Associates Strategy and Accommodation Needs Study