Mr. Speaker, putting our resources to work means building on an agenda that focuses on skills development, innovation, investment and trade. By putting our human and natural resources to work, we can strengthen our economy, generate prosperity for New Brunswickers and create opportunities to those who want to call New Brunswick home.

#### Putting our Resources to Work through Skills Development

Our province has faced some trying economic times in recent years and we have seen our most valuable resource-our young and skilled people-leave the province to find work. If we are to reverse this trend, we must ensure that our workforce needs and skills development activities are aligned with emerging economic opportunities. We are investing in our young professionals through the "One-Job Pledge". Since its launch in January 2013, this initiative has surpassed its initial goal of creating 650 jobs and is currently nearing its revised target of 850 jobs; the program's target has been expanded further to 1,000 jobs. Furthermore, the "One-Job Pledge" is just one part of our Labour Force and Skills Development Strategy 2013-2016 to help New Brunswickers obtain the skills and training they need to meet the challenges of today's labour market needs. Mr. Speaker, we are creating opportunities for our people to develop the skills and pursue opportunities here at home and in the Atlantic region. ln partnership with the Government of Canada and the Atlantic provinces, we have launched an initiative to harmonize apprenticeship systems across the region. This initiative will lead to increased availability of training, higher apprenticeship completion rates, increased labour mobility and additional job opportunities for apprentices across Atlantic Canada. We have also introduced new apprenticeship incentives that will support bath employers and apprentices. They include the Apprenticeship Employer lncentive Grant, Apprenticeship Tuition Rebate, Out-of-Province Apprenticeship Strategy and the Provincial Government Hiring Apprenticeship Initiative. We continue to ensure that skills development programs that are cost-shared with the federal government reflect the needs of New Brunswickers. Over the last year, Premier Alward and Premier Clark-his British Columbia counterpart have led the discussion to bring about changes to the Canada Jobs Grant in order to reflect provincial fiscal realities and local labour market needs. Although further work needs to be completed, these efforts have been recognized by the Government of Canada and have resulted in a significant departure from the initial program design.

#### Putting our Resources to Work through Innovation

Mr. Speaker, a greater emphasis on innovation and the adoption of industry best practices are required to compete in an ever-changing global economy. We have committed to investing more than $80 million over five years to make New Brunswick an innovation leader and provided much- needed leadership through the establishment of the New Brunswick Research and Innovation Council creating an environment that fosters entrepreneurship and creativity. Investments in initiatives such as the Industry Innovation Challenge, New Brunswick Graduate Scholarship Program, the Innovation Voucher Fund, Innovation Research Chairs and the Brilliant