Strengthening ties with the northern neighbour

The top executives of New Richmond, Que.-based Activa Environnement Inc. travelled an hour south to Campbellton last week to open a new branch.

"The Restigouche region is a perfect fit for our company," said Guy Pardiac, the company's director of development affairs. "We share a common language and business culture and we're also geographically close, so it's easy to create relationships and networks."

The Quebec company's success in New Brunswick is a result of Rendez-vous Acadie Québec, a bi-annual conference holding its third edition Sept. 24 and 25 at the Memorial Civic Centre in Campbellton.

More than 200 entrepreneurs and economic stakeholders are expected to attend this year's conference, organized by the Enterprise Network along with the Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick, the Association des centres locaux de développement du Québec and the Réseau des SADC du Québec, an economic development agency.

"This is an opportunity to bring together entrepreneurs from Quebec and New Brunswick in order to promote economic development," said Richard LeBlanc, executive director of the Enterprise Network.

"The sessions this year will be focused on match-making," he said. "We want to bring businesses together to encourage more trade and we also want to promote the assets that we have here in northern New Brunswick."

LeBlanc said New Brunswick companies have tended to focus on building business and trade relationships in Atlantic Canada and the United States. But given the proximity and size of Quebec markets - and the shared language and culture - local businesses should try to look more towards their Quebec neighbours, he said.

"We need to take the bull by the horn and show some leadership in helping expand these trade relationships," he said. "Our goal is to bring business leaders together face to face to get them talking and hopefully signing some deals."

Activa Environnement executives first visited New Brunswick in 2005 during the inaugural Rendez-vous Acadie Québec in Edmundston.

"We realized how much we had in common and that there are a number of business opportunities for us here," said Pardiac, adding that 20 per cent of the company's business now come from New Brunswick contracts.

The firm also has a partnership with St-Joseph-de-Madawaska forestry consultants Four Best Management Inc.

"They specialize in the forest industry which complements nicely the work we do," Pardiac said. "We work together as much as we can."

The company plans on hiring three employees in the Campbellton office in the fields of biology, forestry, geomatics, agronomy and agroforestry.

Activa Environnement does extensive work on environmental impact studies for the establishment of wind farms, including two which are already operational in Quebec and 12 under development. The firm is also involved in nine projects under development in New Brunswick.

Pardiac will be one of the more than 20 speakers at the conference, which has the theme of Renforçons nos economies, or Strengthening Our Economies.

A variety of other government and business leaders will be speaking at the conference, including be Jean-Claude Savoie, president of Groupe Savoie, Monique Colette, president of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Yara Bossé, research and development group leader for the Atlantic division of KPMG LLP.

Brett Bundale
Telegraph Journal