Community Economic Development

What is Community Economic Development?

Community economic development (CED) is action by people within a specific geographic community or group of communities to create local economic opportunities and improve quality of life. CED recognizes that local challenges and opportunities are as varied as the individual communities themselves. By using knowledge and resources resident in the community, CED identifies and capitalizes on local opportunities to stimulate economic growth and employment. This can include developing entirely new businesses or industries, adding value to existing sectors, strengthening capacity, and improving local infrastructure to help communities achieve their full economic potential.

What's the WD Connection?

Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) contributes to community economic development in urban centres and rural areas through initiatives that capitalize on opportunities for growth and development, and enable communities to adjust to challenges that hinder competitiveness and quality of life. A significant proportion of WD's community economic development funding stems from our role as the western delivery agent for national programs offered by the federal government such as infrastructure programs. Our priorities in support of community economic development include:

• Encouraging regional approaches to economic development through partnerships with communities and non-profit organizations,
• Helping rural communities identify and capitalize on new sources of economic growth and employment,
• Increasing the capacity of rural communities to undertake value-added processing and encourage new opportunities for skilled employment,
• Enhancing Aboriginal participation in the economy, 
• Designing and delivering regional and community development programs to help western Canadian communities make a successful transition into the 21st century economy,
• Revitalizing urban communities by supporting initiatives that undertake inner city renewal, build community capacity, enhance knowledge and skills, and foster economic development, and 
• Investing in infrastructure to sustain rural and urban communities.

What funding is available?

WD helps increase the viability and diversification of local economies in Western Canada through a variety of programs and services, tailored to the region's own particular strengths, challenges and opportunities.

• The Recreational Infrastructure Canada (RInC) is an infrastructure program that will provide $500 million nationally for projects to rehabilitate recreational facilities across Canada that can be completed by March 31, 2011. Western Economic Diversification Canada is delivering almost $153 million across the four western provinces.
• The Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) will provide $1 billion over two years to address the short-term economic needs of Canadian communities impacted by the global recession. The national fund provides an economic stimulus by supporting projects that create jobs and maintain employment in and around communities that have experienced significant job losses and lack alternative employment opportunities. Western Economic Diversification Canada is delivering the fund for Western Canada, investing $306 million to help communities reduce the short-term impacts of the economic downturn.
• The Community Economic Diversification Initiative  (eligibility criteria) is an important component of the federal Mountain Pine Beetle Program. It is a two-year federal contribution program aimed at helping to diversify the economic foundation of British Columbia's forest-dependent communities and contribute to their long-term stability.
• Western Diversification Program (eligibility criteria) (application process) is the main program through which WD invests in projects that support our strategic outcomes related to innovation, business development and entrepreneurship and community economic development.
• Western Economic Partnership Agreements (eligibility criteria) are multi-year funding commitments to strengthen economic activity and improve quality of life in western communities. WEPAs are cost-shared equally with each of the four western provinces, with a total of $200 million allocated to initiatives identified as federal and provincial priorities. Specific priorities in some regions include tourism revitalization, development and promotion of environmental technologies, and ground-breaking health technology research and development.
• Western Canada Business Service Network is a group of several independent organizations that receive funding from WD to provide a range of services to help create and build small businesses across the West. One of the Network partners,
• Community Futures Development Corporations, also undertakes broad-based community economic development initiatives in rural western communities.
• The Economic Development Initiative will invest $3.2 million in the West over five years to support business and economic development that encourages sustainable growth in Western Canada’s Francophone communities.

What's been accomplished?

WD helps increase the viability and diversification of local economies in Western Canada through a variety of programs and services, tailored to the region's own particular strengths, challenges and opportunities. 

• The Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund is investing $278 million in the West to improve and increase the stock of core public infrastructure in areas such as water, wastewater, culture and recreation. Delivered by WD in the West, the source of funding for this program is Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
• The Infrastructure Canada Program invested over $543 million in more than 1,600 projects that are improving the environment, supporting long-term economic growth and enhancing community infrastructure across the West.  

For examples of WD projects and initiatives within this program activity area consult our Success Stories: Other Community Economic Development-related projects.

What's on the horizon?

Through its own programs and services and the delivery of national programs, WD has invested millions of dollars on behalf of the federal government in support of community economic development in the West. The department will continue to work in partnership with governments, the private sector, local residents and organizations to ensure that programs and services are delivered in an efficient and accountable manner, and our investments maximize the economic benefits to individual communities and to Western Canada as a whole.