Québec, March 22, 2011 - The Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister of State (Agriculture), Mr. Jean-Pierre Blackburn, and the ministre de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation, minister for the regions of Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Northern Québec and Member of the National Assembly for Abitibi-Est, Mr. Pierrre Corbeil, are pleased to announce the implementation of a program to support sectoral development strategies. This program, which was announced in November 2010, is funded through a 16.7 million dollars budget over a four-year period, with $10 million provided by the Federal government and $6.7 million by the government of Quebec.

"The government of Canada's Economic Action Plan includes an initiative designed to provide tangible support for local agriculture so it can continue to grow and flourish. This program is designed to help the sector design and implement strategies and form partnerships with valuable actors involved in the production chain such as transformers and distributors in order to better respond to the needs of the marketplace" said Minister Blackburn.

This program finances development measures and business partnerships from different agri-food activity sectors. In concrete terms, these agricultural associations and business or agri-food activity sector groups will benefit from financial help for the development and implementation of a sectoral strategy plan, and partner to support business connections. Financial assistance will be provided for up to 70% of expenses, to a maximum of $500,000, depending on the nature of the project.

"The Government of Quebec is committed to doing more to accompany the Agri-food industry in its new business environment. Through this new support program for sectoral strategies, we are hoping to emphasize the implementation of a structured development approach. This approach will provide our production sectors with better tools to accomplish prioritized projects and thereby improve their strategic positioning" added Minister Corbeil.

This program is the result of a federal-provincial agreement under the Agricultural Flexibility Fund and falls within the scope of the adaptation support strategy for Quebec farm businesses, for which an investment of $100 million was announced in 2010 by the government of Quebec.. The Program to support sectoral development strategies joins other programs of the strategy, including the support initiative for consulting services and the modernization support initiative, available since December 2010.

For more information about the support program for sectoral development strategies, visit the ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation website at: www.mapaq.gouv.qc.ca/developpementsectoriel.

Hélène Sauvageau
Press Agent
Cabinet du ministre de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation Tel: 418 380-2525

Céline Falardeau
Senior Advisor, Politics
Office of the Hon. Jean-Pierre Blackburn
613-773-1088

Nathalie Foster
Chef du Service des affaires publiques
et de la production
Direction des communications
Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation Tel: 418 380-2100, ext. 3512

Media relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa (Ontario)
613-773-7972
1-866-345-7972

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