In 2020, the province embraced ONB’s role in leading and facilitating a whole-of-government pro-growth agenda, with the goal of closing the prosperity gap with the rest of the country in one generation. Achieving this requires ONB to maintain close relationships with every player in the economic ecosystem, including our many provincial and federal government partners as well as those in academia, economic development agencies, and the private sector.
Serving as the primary connector of all these essential partners and stakeholders allows us to further eliminate silos as we execute that whole-of-government approach; that collaboration is critical to our continued success.
ONB will continue to promote New Brunswick on a national and global stage, act as a catalyst and champion for private sector investment, support the talent pipeline, help more companies embrace innovation, and support B2B clients as they tap new export markets.
We have now set the course for the future with a clear focus on a fresh new vision.
The Next Five Years
Building on the success of our efforts under the Closing the Gap strategy, our new 5-year strategic plan entitled Connect, Grow, Prosper will help ONB serve as a catalyst for business investment, growth, and prosperity well into the future.
Connecting that vision to initiatives and actions are three strategic priorities:
- Accelerate Investment & Growth;
- Attract & Retain Skilled Newcomers; and
- Drive a High-Performance Ecosystem
To achieve our objectives, we have embraced three strategic filters — competitiveness, sustainability, and partnerships — which will help guide us, prioritize our work, and best leverage our finite resources.
Building on New Brunswick’s Momentum
On many fronts, the province of New Brunswick has led the nation in both its response to and recovery from the pandemic. With an economic contraction of 3.1% in 2020, New Brunswick had the third shallowest decline among provinces, exceeded only by PEI and Nova Scotia. In 2021, a growth of 2.9% was projected for New Brunswick, meaning the economy almost completely reversed the decline of 2020. New Brunswick is one of only five provinces that experienced this level of recovery.
Throughout 2022 and beyond, we must not only sustain but build on this positive economic momentum and ensure we do not miss out on this once-in-a-generation opportunity. Closing the Gap, outlined an ambitious plan to aggressively grow our population, exports, and GDP over the next 20 years. To achieve this, the province must increase its population by over 60,000, exports by $1 billion, and provincial GDP by $3 billion over the next five years. Achieving this bold vision will require a whole-of-government effort, with all provincial departments and agencies aligned to accelerating outcomes in these priority areas. From ONB’s perspective, we will do our part by executing the three strategic priorities noted above.
See our Plan for Yourself
The process of developing our strategic plan highlighted once again that ONB has the team in place to help drive further economic growth in our province. Our Strategic Plan (and fiscal 2022-2023 Annual Plan) can now be found on our Transparency page. The full strategy plan document includes an in-depth look at our strategic filters, 5-year corporate targets, strategic priority areas (including our preferred outcomes), and strategy map. We invite you to give it a thorough read for a better understanding of where we are heading.
Be sure to keep an eye on our progress by following ONB on all our social media channels: Twitter – Facebook – LinkedIn – YouTube – Instagram