About $71M removed from now-defunct Jobs Fund, but many millions remain

Tens of millions of dollars came off the books of the now-defunct Nova Scotia Jobs Fund in the last fiscal year, but Nova Scotians remain on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in agreements signed by a former government.

Information for the 2018-19 fiscal year, which officially ended with the release of the public accounts last week, shows a total of about $71 million in loan writeoffs and incentives earned from the Jobs Fund last year.

In 2014, Premier Stephen McNeil's government ended the fund, a corporate loan program created by Darrell Dexter's NDP government. At the time, McNeil argued the fund amounted to government handouts for businesses that too often looked at the province as a bank.

The majority of last year's money — $60.2 million — is tied to loan forgiveness or incentives companies earned as per the terms of agreements they signed. They are:

• Port Hawkesbury Paper mill owner Pacific West Commercial Co. ($54 million)

• Irving Shipbuilding Inc. ($3.2 million)

• Chorus Aviation Inc. ($1.5 million)

• Cooke Aquaculture ($592,586.88)

• Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corp. ($500,000)

• Michelin North America (Canada) Inc. ($217,676)

• Authentic Seacoast Company Ltd. ($200,000)

Companies and groups removed from the Jobs Fund portfolio after earning their maximum incentives included Web.com ($1.05 million) and the Yarmouth Area Industrial Commission ($1,000).

Uncollectible debt totals almost $10 million

The numbers for 2018-19 also included the writeoff of $9.8 million in uncollectible debt. Companies affected include:

• Co-op Atlantic ($3.3 million)

• ACF Equity Atlantic Inc., a venture capital fund tasked with making direct equity or quasi-equity investments in small- and medium-sized businesses in Atlantic Canada. According to Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI), which oversees the Jobs Fund, the ACF board voluntarily wound down operations and liquidated assets in 2012 due to no longer having money to continue its mandate ($2.8 million).

• Canaqua Seafoods Ltd. The land-based aquaculture operation initiated processes under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in 2016, according to NSBI. The trustee liquidated assets and settled with creditors, including the Jobs Fund ($945,039.37).

• Rosedale Farms Ltd. ($665,958.67)

• Composites Atlantic Ltd. - STELIA Aerospace North America Inc. ($283,118.37)

• MacDonald Peat Moss Ltd. ($166,769.26)

The uncollectible debt also included $1.6 million in claims related to the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program.

While the jobs fund is only being managed at this point, with no new additions, there remained an overall balance of $572.5 million as of the end of March.

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