Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency's 25 largest grants and loans in 2023

1

Springboard Atlantic (Nova Scotia)

$9.80 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Support a pan-Atlantic industry engagement and technology commercialization network

2 

Halifax International Security Forum (Nova Scotia)

$9.60 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Funding support to host the 2023 and 2024 Halifax International Security Forums

3

Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture

$8.49 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Support recovery from the impacts of Hurricane Fiona

4

Cooke Aquaculture Inc. (New Brunswick)

$5.00 million (2 x $2.50 million)

Type: Unconditionally repayable loans

Purpose: Acquire value-added processing equipment and undertake facility modernization in Hermitage

Purpose: Purchase of automated value-added processing equipment

5, 6 

Raspberry Point Oyster Co. (Prince Edward Island)

$5.00 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Support recovery from the impacts of Hurricane Fiona

Atlantic Aqua Farms Ltd. (Prince Edward Island)

$5.00 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Provide assistance to mitigate economic hardships resulting from Hurricane Fiona

7

Canadian Maritime Engineering Ltd. (Nova Scotia)

$4.88 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Reconstruct wharf damaged by Hurricane Fiona

8

Louisbourg Seafoods Ltd. (Nova Scotia)

$4.18 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Reconstruct wharf assets damaged by Hurricane Fiona

9

Quinlan Brothers Ltd. (Newfoundland)

$3.50 million

Type: Unconditionally Repayable Loan

 Purpose: Acquire automated equipment and undertake facility improvements for salmon processing

10

Victoria Co-Operative Fisheries Ltd. (Nova Scotia)

$3.46 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Repair facilities and adapt mitigation measures against future disasters

11, 12

Shoreline Aggregates Inc. (Newfoundland & Labrador)

$3.00 million

Type: Unconditionally repayable loan

Purpose: Undertake efficiency improvements through the acquisition of advanced equipment

Volta Labs Inc. (Nova Scotia)

$3.00 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Provide multi-year programming and operational support from 2023 to 2026

13

Propel Ict Inc. (New Brunswick)

$2.94 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Deliver a Pan-Atlantic Accelerator Program 2023-2026

14

MDS Coating Technologies Corp. (Prince Edward Island)

$2.91 million

Type: Unconditionally repayable loan

Purpose: Scale-up of clean technology production

15

Systemair Inc. (New Brunswick)

$2.47 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Purchase of specialized steel equipment to manufacture air handling units

16

Ship Hector Society (Nova Scotia)

$2.20 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Support capital and interpretive enhancements at the Ship Hector site

17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

Island Structural Systems Inc. (Prince Edward Island)

$2.00 million

Type: Unconditionally repayable loan

Purpose: Establish an automated truss manufacturing facility

360 Marine Ltd. (Newfoundland & Labrador)

$2.00 million

Type: Unconditionally repayable loan

Purpose: Acquire a new Euro Carrier specialized vessel for service to the aquaculture industry

Premier Horticulture Ltd. (Quebec)

$2.00 million

Type: Unconditionally repayable loan

Purpose: Buy equipment for a new pearlite transformation facility

Sunny Corner Exploration Inc. (New Brunswick)

$2.00 million

Type: Unconditionally repayable loan

Purpose: Provide working capital to support sales growth

City of Summerside (Prince Edward Island)

$2.00 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Construct a passive energy multi-tenant building in the Summerside Eco Park

New Brunswick Power

$2.00 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Support testing of biomass as replacement fuel source for Belledune Generating Station

23

Prince Edward Aqua Farms Inc.

$1.99 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Support recovery from the impacts of Hurricane Fiona

24

Learnsphere Canada Inc. (New Brunswick)

$1.90 million

Type: Grant

Purpose: Deliver Commercialization Consulting and Mentoring program 2023-2025

25

University of New Brunswick

$1.87 million

Type: Grant

Purpose:  Design and Deliver Thales National Digital Excellence Center, Canada, Innovation Programs

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Source: Government of Canada Open Government Proactive Disclosure portal

https://search.open.canada.ca/grants/ 

--HBB

ACOA could face losses on $400,000 loan made last year to company said to be in danger of failing

A federal agency may face losses on a $400,000 loan made last year to a Bedford, Nova Scotia, company whose co-owner said the business is unprofitable and should be dissolved.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, which makes grants and no-interest loans to businesses, non-profits and local governments in the Maritimes, lent the money in March 2022 to Aquamedia Inc., a cleaning-products concern, as an "unconditionally repayable contribution." The money was to be used to "purchase equipment and complete renovations to support business growth," according to online government records.

AllNovaScotia reported in October that Ronald Anaka, who owns 50% of AquaMedia, asked a provincial judge to dissolve the business.

"AquaMedia is not a profitable company," the publication quoted Anaka as saying in court papers. "The cleaning product was never appropriately marketed and there are no current business orders to generate income."

Anaka is squabbling with co-owner Barry Munro, who AllNovaScotia reported today is challenging Anaka's proposal to liqudate AquaMedia. An attorney for Munro is quoted by AllNovaScotia as saying: "Dissolution and liquidation is not the most equitable solution."

Munro is the president of AquaMedia and Anaka the vice-president, according to Nova Scotia's corporate registry. The company's business name is AquaNaka Cleaners.

Data suggests that upwards of 20% of the dollar amount of ACOA loans are never recouped, and the figure may be higher. A 2007 study from the Fraser Institute found that 63.5% of ACOA loans were outstanding from the 10-year period ended in 2006. ACOA’s own research from 2014 showed that 22% of the dollar amount of interest-free loans made between 1995 and 2014 under the agency’s business-development program was defaulted on, written off or forgiven, while 53% was repaid and 25% remained outstanding. ACOA has said the chart is no longer made available to the public.

As a comparison, 3.3% of the Business Development Bank of Canada's loan portfolio consisted of bad loans in 2019 and default rates on bank loans were even lower, according to the National Post. The BDC is a crown corporation that makes loans to businesses.

In February of this year, AquaMedia received an $11,250 grant, also from ACOA, to "develop a strategic growth plan and provide business strategy mentoring." Last year, the company received a $20,000 grant under another federal program that assists "small- and medium-sized enterprises seeking to develop new export market opportunities and markets, especially in high-growth emerging markets."

--HBB

Rambler Metals, declared insolvent in April, owed $2.17 million to ACOA

The federal agency that underwrites economic development in eastern Canada is owed $2.17 million by the former owner of a Newfoundland mining project that has been sold in bankruptcy proceedings.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) has been repaid $828,463 of the $3 million that Rambler Metals & Mining had borrowed since 2016, according to data provided through an access-to-Information request made by HBB.

Rambler was declared insolvent in April, meaning it was no longer able to pay its debts. Just today, Rambler Metals and its Green Bay copper and gold project, located in Baie Verte, were sold to Auteco Minerals Ltd., an Australian mining company, for A$65 million (C$56 million) in cash and stock.

The unpaid loans stem from what are known as "unconditionally repayable contributions." ACOA provided Rambler Metals with $2 million in 2016 to "optimize and expand the grinding circuit for a copper concentrator" and another $1 million in the form of Covid assistance in 2021. In 2022, Rambler received a $100,000 grant for "digital improvements," which did not have to be repaid. ACOA loans are generally interest-free.

"This is a prime example of why corporate welfare is at best a risky business," said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a critic of government spending. "Does the government expect to get any more money back, or will taxpayers be left holding the bag?"

In the response to the access-to-information request, ACOA did not say whether it expected any additional recovery from the Rambler Metals bankruptcy. ACOA is listed as an unsecured creditor by Grant Thornton, the monitor overseeing the bankruptcy, meaning the agency has no claims on the company's collateral and that further recovery, if any, would come through litigation.

Under the bankruptcy proceedings, "all creditors, including ACOA, must respect the legal process of the court order," ACOA said in its response. "Distribution of any resulting proceeds of the amount due to creditors will be administered in accordance with the court order by the court appointed monitor."

Auteco, based in West Perth, Western Australia, is also developing an Ontario gold mine 400 kilometers north of Lake Superior.

--HBB