Atlantic agency to announce details of $708M in new funding Monday   
by Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch Updated 4:55 p.m. July 8, 2005]

OTTAWA  — The minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency will announce program details for $708 million in new spending for the region on Monday.   

Joe McGuire won approval for the $708 million in February's federal budget. 

The minister is expected to announce program details of how the new money will be allocated, an announcement that is much anticipated in the Atlantic region. 

The announcement on Monday will not allocate funding for specific companies or groups but will go into programs, which businesses and community groups can apply for. 

The minister will make the announcement at a hangar at Atlantic Turbines, an aerospace company just outside of Summerside, P.E.I. 

The new funding is expected to broken down this way.

> $300 million for the Atlantic Innovation Fund, which is a research and development fund. 
 > $110 million for the National Research Council to develop economic clusters
>  $8.4 million to administer community futures programs managed by ACOA. 
>  $290 million will be allocated for programs designed to enhance trade for the region, encourage women in business, young entrepreneurs and to deal with out migration in the region. 

There is a possibility that part of the $290 million will replace funding for a program designed to benefit rural communities, which came to an end in March of this year. 

McGuire's securing the funding in the budget was seen as a victory for both the minister and Liberal MPs in the Atlantic caucus.

The MPs developed an economic strategy known as Rising Tide. 

McGuire took the MPs' strategy to cabinet and asked for the funding. 

Valerie Poulin, director of communications for McGuire, said the new money was contingent upon the budget receiving Royal Assent and was in doubt during the confidence vote showdowns in the House of Commons over the last few months. 

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