Insights with Don Mills and David Campbell: Recent Episodes

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This new podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, to promote data-driven decision making among policymakers and to encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region. Expect to hear interviews with the top influencers, business leaders and decision-makers across Atlantic Canada to inform, educate and expand the conversations on the key issues facing the region.

Revisit the life and thoughts of John Risley

A new book about the life and success of Mahone Bay native, John Risley was recently released by author, Quentin Casey. We invite you to revisit a rare discussion where Risley shares candid opinions about the kinds of public policy changes needed in Atlantic Canada. He also tells the story about how Clearwater Seafoods was founded and the decision to sell to a company with an ownership group that includes a Mi’kmaq First Nations coalition.

Mass Timber Can Shorten Construction Times Significantly

In this episode of the Insights Podcast , we examine a new initiative under development to build the first mass timber manufacturing plant in Atlantic Canada, led by Patrick Crabbe, the President & CEO of the Mass Timber Company and also the Director of Mass Timber for Bird Construction. Mass timber can be used to replace concrete and steel in the construction of residential and commercial buildings. There are already mass timber buildings being built in the region. The company plans to build a manufacturing facility that will cost nearly $180 million and produce fifty thousand square cubic feet of mass timber, enough to construct more than 3,000 housing units per year once full production capacity is achieved. Mass timber, because it is manufactured off-site, has the advantage of shortening construction time by as much as 30 percent which translates into lower overall construction costs for developers, as well as lowering CO2 emissions by 45 percent. The company is working with two local sawmills, Elmsdale Lumber and Ledwidge Lumber, as their source of wood supply, which will create higher value end products for these sawmills. Construction is expected to start in mid-2024 and be completed in the fall of 2026. This is the second in a new series on the Forest Industry in Atlantic Canada.

On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David are starting a series on the forest products sector in Atlantic Canada. The region’s forests support thousands of good paying jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the region’s governments each year. New Brunswick generates more gross domestic product (GDP) and export revenue from the forest products sector than any other province in Canada, adjusted for population size. Kim Allen, Executive Director of Forest NB and Mike Legere, Government Relations Manager at AV Group join Don and David to cover topics ranging from workforce challenges and the sustainability of the wood supply to the impact of carbon taxes on the sector’s competitiveness. The conversation also highlights the advantages of the sector. As one example, Legere calls New Brunswick’s Crown Lands and Forests Act a ‘brilliant’ piece of legislation. To learn all about the forest products industry, its challenges and opportunities, download the podcast now.

Between 1983 and 2004, the value of exports (in inflation adjusted dollars) from Atlantic Canada increased by an average of nearly five per cent per year. Over the same 20+ year timeframe, the economy expanded by an average of 2.6 per cent per year (real GDP). Since then, between 2005 and 2021, the value of exports in real terms has declined and real GDP growth has dropped to an average of only 1.0% per year across the region. On this week’s Insight’s podcast Don and David talk to Dr. Herb Emery about the importance of the export economy and explore whether or not the region can get back to a moderate level of economic growth without growth in exports. The conversation covers a wide variety of topics from the role of international trade agreements and interprovincial trade to the impact the current shortage of workers is having on the region’s exporters. Emery is one of the top thinkers on economic and demographic topics in our region and makes a strong case for a greater focus on exports and on creating a positive business environment for companies that compete in global markets.

This week on the Insights podcast, Don interviews David about a recent report he wrote about housing demand in New Brunswick. Commissioned by the New Brunswick Business Council, the report looks at housing demand by region across New Brunswick between 2023-2030. For the past 30 years, New Brunswick has averaged around 3,000 housing starts per year. David’s report proposes the province will need to build an average of around 8,500 per year through 2030 to have enough housing to support a fast-growing population. Don and David weigh into a wide variety of topics from the lack of construction workers to affordable housing to the potential role of manufactured housing. Well worth an hour of your time. A copy of the report can be found at the Housing Hub of New Brunswick website: https://hhnb-rlnb.ca/advocacy/

One of Canada’s most thoughtful analysts of politics and economic development, Donald Savoie, has written a new book entitled “Canada: Beyond Grudges, Grievances and Disunity”. In the book, Savoie chronicles Canada’s history of ‘victimhood’ including geographically-based groups – Quebecers, Maritimers, Western Canadians, rural Canadians and, of course, Ontario. He also covers the grievances of various demographic and ethnic groups as well as the country’s Indigenous population. There is a reason Canadians are known for saying sorry. Savoie believes this apologetic culture has helped shape the country we have become but worries that in the current climate it could do more harm than good. While he believes some of the claims of victimhood are exaggerated, he spends a lot of time discussing the relationship between Canada’s indigenous and non-indigenous population. He believes this is one of the defining issues of our era. As always, Savoie’s insights are rooted in a strong understanding of Canada’s history, institutions and politics. This will be well worth an hour of your time.

Today on the Insights podcast, Don and David talk with economist Richard Saillant about the federal Equalization program. There has been a lot of talk about Equalization including efforts in western Canada to eliminate or significantly downsize the program. Richard provides an excellent tutorial including when and why it was put in place, it’s purpose and whether or not the region should look to reduce reliance on the program. After listening to this podcast you will know a lot more about fiscal federalism than you knew before. Well worth an hour of your time.

Bear Head Energy has just received environmental approval for 2 gigawatts of electrolyzer capacity that will be developed in phases and require 400 onshore and offshore wind turbines to produce green ammonia and hydrogen for export. The Bear Head project is one of two hydrogen projects under development in the Strait of Canso.

This week, Don and David have a wide-ranging conversation with Paul MacLean, Bear Head's managing director. They cover the expected timetable for the project, how it will be financed, and the important role Bear Head Energy's owner, BAES Infrastructure, will play developing the markets for the company's green hydrogen and ammonia.

They also discuss the challenges with two green hydrogen projects in development at the same time, in the same geographical location, and how that affects the manpower and other resources needed to complete both projects.

There's a lot of hype in Nova Scotia around the relatively new and untested "green hydrogen" market. Anyone interested in that market, and what it might or might not mean for the province's economic future, will find a ton of insight in Don, David, and Paul's conversation.

Saint Mary's University was just ranked third in the mainly undergraduate university community in Canada by Maclean's magazine. It joins the perennially number-one-ranked Mount Allison at the top of the list.

Once thought of more as a "jock school," SMU has been steadily rising in the all-important Maclean's rankings, largely thanks to a well-executed strategy that has focussed on the university's key strengths.

In this episode of the Insights Podcast, Don and David unpack the school's strategy with its dynamic president and vice-chancellor, Rob Summerby-Murray. Their wide-ranging discussion touches on the economic impact of the university in Nova Scotia and its role in the community.

They also discuss the growing impact of SMU's Sobeys School of Business, especially its work developing young entrepreneurs. This episode is part of Insights' post-secondary series that has included the University of New Brunswick, Mount Allison University, and the Nova Scotia Community College.

This week, Don and David talk with Laurel Broten, the CEO of Invest in Canada, about the importance of foreign direct investment to the Canadian economy.

According to Statistics Canada, Last year Canadian companies had just under $2 trillion invested in other countries, and the total value of all foreign investment in Canada amounted to $1.3 trillion. Broten says foreign companies operating in Canada support 2.5 million jobs, or 13 per cent of total employment across the country.

Her, Don, and David's conversation covers a wide variety of topics, including why should we want foreign companies to invest here and which industries are attracting investment from outside Canada.

Broten also tackles the thorny issue of government-provided corporate incentives to lure investment here instead of other countries. She provides a fascinating overview of Invest in Canada and its plan to attract high-quality companies to invest in strategic industries all across the country.

Over the past several years, the Port of Saint John has undergone a sort of rebirth that coincides with a nearly complete modernization project that saw a significant expansion of its capacity and the addition of two new cranes. The investment of more than $200 million has led to record high volumes of business.

The Port is managed by DP World, one of the world's biggest Port management companies, and is served by not one but three Class A railways, including one that has direct access to the USA.

Don and David's conversation with the Port's CEO, Craig Estabrooks, outlines the details of the Port's modernization project, the future plans, and growing confidence in the Port which is leading the growth for the City of Saint John.

They also discuss the important role that the Port plays in the renewal of the waterfront with the City of Saint John.

The decision by the Chretien Government in the 1990s to transfer the operation of Canada's national airport system to local airport authorities was likely one of the most important legacy decisions of that government.

All the NAS airports have since been modernized through an investment of more than $30 billion by the combined airport authorities across the country. The Halifax International Airport has been transformed and doubled in size since transfer through an investment of $750 million by HIAA.

Don Mills' conversation with Nova Scotia-born Monette Pasher, the CEO of the Canada Airports Council, which represent over 100 airports in Canada, including all 26 NAS airports, takes a look at the economic importance of the sector, the impact of the pandemic on the industry, where airports are in term of their recovery from the pandemic and some of the opportunities to improve the travel experience for passengers including the use of technologies like facial recognition.

The two also talk about what it will take to re-introduce the inter-provincial air service within Atlantic Canada that was a causality of the pandemic.

Seamus O'Regan is a senior cabinet minister in the Trudeau Government, where he sits as the Minister of Labour.

Previously, as the Minister of Natural Resources, O'Regan led the development of Canada's hydrogen strategy, which provides real opportunities for green hydrogen production in Atlantic Canada.

O'Regan chats with Don and David about the recent amendments to the Atlantic Accords for both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador that broaden those mandates to include green energy.

In his current role, O'Regan is responsible for a portion of the Canadian labour market. He talks about the challenges ensuring labour force availability in sectors like rail, air, trucking, and marine transportation. O'Regan is also strongly focused on his home province and clearly excited about its future.

This broad and illuminating conversation provides an insider view of some of the priorities of the current government and the potential impacts on our region.

Housing is a problem not only in Atlantic Canada but across the country. Unprecedented population growth has put significant pressures on the supply of housing, leading to higher housing prices and rental rates.

This week's episode features a fascinating conversation with Duncan Williams, the long-serving CEO and president of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia. Don, David, and Duncan take a close look at the current housing challenges and what needs to be done to ensure the supply of housing keeps up with rising demand.

Their conversation underscores the reality that closing the current gap will take some time and one of the issues that need to be addressed is the shortage of workers in the construction industry. Williams estimates Nova Scotia's construction industry must hire 11,000 new workers by 2030 just to replace the ones retiring. He adds that, for the province to grow to 2 million people, we must build 13,000-to-15,000 new homes a year. Right now, we're building less than 6,000 a year. Labour shortages are only adding to that problem.

The trio also discusses what needs to be done to ensure the availability of affordable housing and the roles that the private sector and governments play in resolving this particular challenge.

On this week’s "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell are continuing their discussions about the energy sector and the transition to net zero by 2050. In previous podcasts, we have covered renewable energy, natural gas and other topics. This week, they're talking to Stephen MacDonald, President & CEO of EfficiencyOne about the role of energy efficiency.

For more than a decade, EfficiencyOne has been helping residents and industries to become more energy efficient leading to cost savings for them and a reduction in demand for electricity and other energy sources. MacDonald estimates this year alone, energy efficiency investments made since the inception of EfficiencyOne will reduce energy costs by $1.5 billion, significantly lower Nova Scotia’s carbon footprint and support thousands of good-paying jobs in construction and related activities across the province.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

In this episode of the "Insights" podcast, we talk with Rustum Southwell, the founding CEO of the Black Business Initiative (BBI) which has developed a national reputation for its work with the black business community and has expanded its mandate to serve all of Atlantic Canada.

Rustum was recently inducted into the N.S. Business Hall of Fame and named one of Canada's most influential black leaders. Through BBI's counsel, training programs and financial support, several hundred black businesses have been created since its inception 25 years ago. This podcast provides an inside understanding of the initiatives and programs used by BBI to support and develop black businesses in our region.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

On this week’s Insights podcast, we are continuing our series of interviews with the leaders of Atlantic Canada’s post-secondary education sector. Dr. Paul Mazerolle, the President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of New Brunswick, joins us to talk about why the “world needs more UNB.” Mazerolle outlines an ambitious plan to boost the student population by 50 percent and double sponsored research income to $100 million per year. The university has big plans to expand experiential learning and evolve how students engage with UNB including micro-credentialing. In our conversation, Mazerolle outlines the exciting efforts on the Saint John campus to expand health education and research and other new initiatives such as the McKenna Institute.

In this week’s episode, we turn the microphone around. Don Mills was recently inducted into the Nova Scotia Business Hall of Fame - an honour he received because of his successful business career where he built a firm with upwards of 600 employees and his extensive volunteerism including stints on the boards of the IWK, Halifax Partnership, Halifax Chamber of Commerce, APEC, among many others.

Don provides insights on how he dealt with adversity, the importance of volunteerism and why he spends much of his time these days promoting a new vision for Atlantic Canada.

The Hadhad family left Damascus after their home and business were destroyed with nothing. In this fascinating two-part podcast, we follow the family's journey as refugees from Syria to Lebanon and then to Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

The conversation with Tareq Hadhad, the young and dynamic CEO of Peace by Chocolate is nothing less than inspiring, providing a better understanding of the value that immigrants bring to Canada. With strong support from their community and Sobeys, the Hadhads have a growing national business and are creating significant employment in Nova Scotia. Equally impressive is their focus on social causes related to peace around the world. It's a compelling story that is worth hearing.

Last week, we shared the first part of the conversation between Tareq, Don Mills and David Campbell. It focused mainly on the Hadhads journey to Canada and their efforts to build a new life here after a war that destroyed their home and chocolate factory.

In the latest episode, Tareq tells the story of how they established a new chocolate business in Antigonish and initiated charitable programs that support initiatives across the country.

You can listen to part one of their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

The Hadhad family left Damascus after their home and business were destroyed with nothing. In this fascinating two-part podcast, we follow the family's journey as refugees from Syria to Lebanon and then to Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Don Mills and David Campbell are in Cape Breton for a special edition of the "Insights" podcast this week. The Cape Breton Partnership is having its annual Investor Summit and the guys took the opportunity to chat with CEO Tyler Mattheis about the potential of an economic resurgence in this important region of Atlantic Canada.

Since its heyday as an industrial powerhouse in the 1960s and 1970s, the region has struggled to reposition itself and that has led to slow but steady depopulation. Now, according to Mattheis, a new Cape Breton could be emerging leveraging key assets such as Cape Breton University and Sydney Port, new industries such as clean energy, and a significant increase in the number of newcomers moving to the Island.

Cape Breton is a test case for economic renewal in Atlantic Canada. Everyone should be paying attention.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

Under the leadership of hospitality veteran Glenn Squires, the CEO of Pacrim Hospitality Services, Digby Pines Golf Resort and Spa is being transformed to become one of the top 10 resorts in Canada.

In partnership with the Bear River First Nation, the ownership group has already invested $10 million on basic infrastructure. It's now open year-round as a result of these initial investments, with ambitious plans to spend another $125 million over the next five years or so.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Squires, Don Mills and David Campbell learn more about the capital investment plans that include condos on-site and the challenges of turning the Pines into a year-round resort.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

With the exception of Newfoundland & Labrador, the rest of Atlantic Canada is enjoying unprecedented population growth at rates well above the national average. In this episode, we take a look at the sustainability of the current pace of growth.

This special interest podcast begins with a look at the latest population data and the impacts that rapid population growth is having on the labour market, the housing market, education and health care. We are clearly in transition to a faster-growing population than has been the case in the past for the region and we will need to quickly learn how to adapt to different economic and market pressures to take advantage of that growth.

On the latest episode of the "Insights" podcast, we get an update on the state of the tourism industry in Nova Scotia and across Atlantic Canada with Darlene Grant Fiander, President, Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia and Executive Director, Nova Scotia Tourism Human Resource Council.

The discussion ranges from the current state of the industry (not expected to fully return to the pre-pandemic level until 2025), some of the positive trends emerging from the pandemic and what needs to happen to ensure tourism remains an important economic driver in Atlantic Canada.

Across the four provinces, it is a $3.5-billion export sector that supports 46,000 direct jobs. Fiander talks about the work underway to boost the tourism workforce, attract entrepreneurs and build strong tourism products in our region.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

With annual revenues of more than $5 billion and $36 billion in assets, the importance of Emera on the regional economy is not well understood. In a wide-ranging conversation on the "Insights" podcast with Emera's President & CEO, Scott Balfour, Don Mills and David Campbell learned that only 30 percent of the company's revenue is generated in Nova Scotia, with the bulk of the rest coming from the U.S.

This revenue supports a couple of hundred high-paying head office jobs in Halifax. Emera spends more than $2 billion annually on goods and services in the region, benefitting more than 7,000 companies across Atlantic Canada and creating more than 4,000 indirect jobs.

At the same time, its subsidiary companies like Nova Scotia Power are in transition from thermal electric generation to renewable energy to achieve net zero emissions by 2030. Scott talks about the challenge of closing coal plants before their time and the strategies to replace this source of energy.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

On this week's edition of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell are joined by Herb Emery, Vaughan Chair in Regional Economics at the University of New Brunswick and Director of the Atlantic Institute for Policy Research.

Emery helps us understand the current state of the economy in Atlantic Canada and what we need to do to foster a strong economy moving forward. The conversation is wide-ranging from inflation to immigration and export-led economic growth.

"You start with exports, that draws in capital, then you draw in population," says Emery. "You can get to three percent growth if you can grow the value of your exports. It can be [the] quantity that you put out, it can be increasing value add or it can just be increasing the price by finding new markets. To [increase] exports, what does the government need to do? Focus with laser-like accuracy on the conditions that make exports competitive."

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

For several weeks now, David Campbell and Don Mills have been exploring the landscape for green energy companies in the Maritimes, speaking with leaders of companies developing wind, nuclear and hydrogen sources to supply the region with growing power needs.

This week on the Huddle "Insights" podcast, they speak with Scott Skinner, the CEO of the Clean Foundation in Nova Scotia. With a staff of 90 people, the non-profit organization delivers programming on green energy solutions for individuals, organizations and businesses. They also develop policy prescriptions for helping the province and country at large achieve ambitious net-zero emission targets by 2050.

"We've become really good at speaking to people who are in our 'climate bubble,' " says Skinner, "but a lot of things that are coming out in policies and programs, the general public is kind of confused by them, not always keeping track of them in the same way."

"We're thinking a lot about how we get these messages out to the community in the ways that they are ready to accept them. And identify how they can be part of solutions. We feel it's important to make sure the right people who are eligible for programs are putting their hands up when they need to."

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

Ron Joyce's vision to create a destination resort on Nova Scotia's north shore that would contribute to the local economy has been largely achieved with new near-term investments being planned.

Joyce and his family have invested more than $100 million in the resort that opened in 2000. The resort's economic impact in terms of county taxes, employment and purchase of local goods and services is in the millions of dollars annually.

In the latest "Insights" podcast, Kevin Toth, the President of Fox Harb'r, talks about how the resort has managed through the pandemic, the current season and the increase in business, the opening of the new conference centre; and their plans looking ahead. Having a world-class destination like Fox Harb'r is important not only for Cumberland County but the whole of Nova Scotia.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

This week on the Insights podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell continue their conversations about the transformation of the energy sector in Atlantic Canada as it looks to decarbonize our economy and continue to foster a strong regional economy.

Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) could be an important source of electricity production that provides essentially carbon-free energy that, unlikely many other sources of green energy, provides baseload stable power production whether or not wind is blowing or the sun is shining.

SMRs are smaller, less complex, lower cost and should be far faster to deploy compared to earlier, larger-scale nuclear energy facilities.

We talk to Brett Plummer, Chief Nuclear Officer and Vice President at NB Power about the potential of SMRs not only to address energy needs in New Brunswick and possibly around the region but also as a catalyst for regional economic development.

If all goes to plan, potentially hundreds of businesses in the supply chain will develop expertise here that could be exported around the world. The plan is to have an SMR providing power to the New Brunswick electricity grid by 2030.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

The latest "Insights" podcast features an in-depth conversation with Trent Vichie, the CEO of EverWind Fuels, which has plans to be the first company in Nova Scotia to commercially produce green hydrogen from wind power.

Vichie's company has already invested about $100 million in the project, recently completing the purchase of the tank farm at Point Tupper which has the capacity to store nearly eight million barrels of fuel.

EverWind has ambitions to transform Nova Scotia into an energy hub in Eastern Canada. Learn more about EverWinds' ambitious plans that include details on when the company plans to begin production of green hydrogen (and ammonia) is expected.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

In this rebroadcast of one of the most popular “Insights” podcasts, David Campbell and Don Mills chat with one of Atlantic Canada's most successful business leaders, Clearwater Seafoods co-founder John Risley, someone who has been part of building three different companies that sold for more than $1 billion each.

Risley shares candid opinions about the kinds of public policy changes needed in Atlantic Canada. He also tells the story about how Clearwater Seafoods was founded and the decision to sell to a company with an ownership group that includes a Mi’kmaq First Nations coalition.

“[We] didn’t’ have family in the business and it made sense to pass ownership on to [peope] we thought would be good stewards of what we had put together over the long term,” says Risley.

“The company will have had its best year ever since the sale, so it’s a great way for them to have started off this relationship with the company performing above both their expectations and our expectations.”

This conversation was originally uploaded on May 13, 2021, but the insights are still fresh. You can listen to the conversation with Risley in the player above. Better yet, search for “Huddle Insights” on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, to promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and to encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

John Bragg will make you believe that rural and small-town economies can flourish despite the widespread perception that the future of job and wealth creation is in our larger urban centres. After all, he has built globally competitive companies from a small town - Oxford, Nova Scotia.

In this rebroadcast of one of the most popular Huddle “Insights” podcasts, Don Mills and David Campbell have a look at the challenges of rural economic development and speak to one of the region’s biggest proponents of rural development, the CEO of the Bragg Group of Companies that includes Oxford Frozen Foods and Eastlink.

With more than 600 employees in Oxford, Nova Scotia, and more than 6,000 across the entire group of companies, John discusses the impact of the growth of his businesses on the small town of Oxford and offers some concrete suggestions on how other rural communities can grow and what is needed to support rural development in Atlantic Canada.

“You have to start with the entrepreneurs,” says Bragg. “When I travel around Nova Scotia…I would say, ‘who is the entrepreneur in this town? Who is the entrepreneur in this village?’ There are entrepreneurs in every town and village in Atlantic Canada. We need government policies that encourage those people.”

John says he’s not talking about “giving money away.” He’s talking about supporting them by making it easy for them to cut through red tape and access capital to start and grow successful businesses. He also says small communities need schools and available housing to support an employee base.

This conversation was originally uploaded on May 13, 2021, but the insights are still fresh. You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, to promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and to encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

In the last couple of episodes, Don Mills and David Campbell have talked about companies about the ocean of opportunities for power generation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the region. In this episode, they speak with John Hawkins, the CEO of Nova Scotia-based Heritage Gas, about the natural gas and hydrogen opportunities in the region.

Hawkins provides an interesting perspective on what needs to be done to get to net zero by 2050, especially with regard to the role that renewable natural gas and green hydrogen can play in transforming his company over time. They have also a good discussion about the proposed Atlantic Loop and some of the challenges associated with its implementation.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

In this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell continue their series on innovative emerging companies in our region with a conversation with CEO Mike Kelland and Chief Chemist Will Burt of the Nova Scotia-based Planetary Technologies.

The company has developed a unique ocean-based carbon removal technology that recently won a $1-million Xprize from the Elon Musk Foundation. Its mission is to remove one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2035.

At the same time, the company's process will help de-acidify the oceans and generate green hydrogen and battery metals to replace fossil fuels. The company's technologies are in a demonstration phase now; if successful, they will be game changers for climate change.

You can listen to their conversation in the player above or download the show on your preferred podcast platform.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

Sustainable Marine has just connected its turbines to the Nova Scotia power grid in a real-life demonstration project to prove its surface-based technology can harness the power of the Bay of Fundy. Our conversation with their CEO Jason Hayman is a must-listen for anyone looking to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with tidal power.

After numerous failed attempts by others to generate power from the world's highest and most powerful tides, Sustainable Marine has taken a different approach to the task of tapping into the tidal power of the Bay of Fundy that has the potential to power two million homes and help provide green renewable energy to Nova Scotia to replace coal-generated electricity.

Atlantic Canada has a growing workforce problem. There are not nearly enough young people to take the place of those who are retiring. Rick Emberley, the founder of SeasonedPros, thinks he has one part of the solution.

His company matches older workers with companies in need of short-term talent in technical, management and mentorship roles.

On the latest Huddle "Insights" podcast, he joins Don Mills and David Campbell to talk about how older workers could be mobilized to help ensure workforce demand can be filled in the years ahead.

SeasonedPros already has 10,000 older workers for hire in its database.

"Sometimes, my elevator speech is we're e-harmony for employers," laughs Emberley. "It's fundamentally an online service driven from a database we've developed and a technology platform that allows employers of any description...looking to fill gigs, you know, the gig economy, the idea that they have an emerging or immediate gap in their workforce and they're looking to fill it."

The opportunity is significant. If Atlantic Canada’s 60+ workforce had the same labour market participation rate as the workforce in Alberta, there would be 54,000 more people working across Atlantic Canada.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

Over the summer, Don Mills and David Campbell will be interviewing the founders of high-growth potential companies across the region. The series starts with David Shipley, the CEO of Fredericton-based Beauceron Security.

The company has an interesting product and service meant to help companies and their employees take better control over their own cybersecurity. David talks about his personal road to entrepreneurship and the company’s plan to carve off its share of the $75-billion cybersecurity industry from Atlantic Canada.

David has ambitious plans for the company. In just five years, it's grown from around $100,000 in annual revenue to nearly $3 million. David wants to grow that yearly total to $10 million and ultimately $100 million in a competitive but lucrative global market. He wants Beauceron to have the same impact as Q1 Labs and Radian6, which created jobs and other entrepreneurial opportunities in the province.

"The dream for me is to chase ... the Q1 Labs legend and to try and follow that same trajectory," he says.

"How do we create hundreds of jobs in New Brunswick and then tie them to something even larger, and create even more opportunities and fuel that cluster, that expertise, that virtuous cycle that includes not just the good payday to your early investors and the angels that believed in you, but you're also creating the next generation of entrepreneurs."

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

This episode of the "Insights" podcast features a fascinating conversation with Steve Matier, the CEO of Maritime Launch Services, the company behind the Spaceport to be built near Canso, Nova Scotia.

With most regulatory approvals now in place, the company is nearing its construction phase which will see an investment of $150 million to build Canada's first commercial spaceport. Find out about the company's plans, its decision to locate in Canso and the economic benefits to the community.

Matier, who is from New Mexico, says there will be many spinoff opportunities, including tourism because people will travel to the province for launch events.

"I'm from the Albuquerque area and every episode of 'Breaking Bad' generated well over a million dollars in tourism opportunities, just from each episode being filmed there over multiple years," he says. "If you look at it from a launch perspective...which will be a tourism draw, not just an economic impact of the event itself, it is going to be quite significant."

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

Michelle Simms, the president and CEO of the Genesis Centre at Memorial University, joins Don Mills and David Campbell on the latest episode of the "Insights" podcast. The Genesis Centre has been supporting startup companies in Newfoundland and Labrador for 25 years.

Many of the province’s top tech startups - most notably Verafin, which sold for nearly $3-billion U.S. - were incubated through the centre’s Enterprise program, which has an innovative royalty-based financing model. Newfoundland and Labradors’ tech sector is getting noticed and still growing.

"Our tech sector is still relatively new. It's probably only 15 to 20 years of real snowballing growth and maybe even less than that," says Simms.

"[We have] the exit from Verafin and a number of other really exciting things that have happened in this province recently. There are probably six or seven other acquisitions that have happened in the last two years. We're going to see a lot more re-investment of that money into our local startup ecosystem and I really do see that snowball getting bigger and bigger and bigger as it rolls down the hill."

A CBC documentary Silicon Island also came out last fall and highlights some of the most promising firms. Simms tells Don and David about the importance of immigrant and female founders to the province’s recent startup boom.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

On this week's "Insights" podcast, David Campbell speaks with Entrevestor Peter Moreira, who has tracked and accumulated data for more than 770 technology-based Atlantic Canadian companies, including investment, revenue and employment trends.

Entrevestor, the leading chronicler on startup companies in the region, has a new report coming out on June 14 but he gives us a sneak peek. Want to know how much investment the 771 firms received in 2021? Want to know the percentage of the 2019 startup cohort that didn't survive the pandemic? Interested in his insights into clean tech, ocean tech, fintech and cybersecurity?

Peter muses about what would be different now if he was to update his 2009 book, Backwater, a stern indictment of the state of the economy and politics in the region.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and follow the show so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

In the latest "Insights" podcast, Jean-Paul Boudreau, the President of Mount Allison University and "CEO of Optimism," underscores the many roles that the post-secondary institutions play in the communities where they are located, especially smaller ones like Sackville.

Beyond the role of educator, universities are important economic enablers as an employer and consumers of goods and services; as innovators and researchers; as incubators for entrepreneurs; and as community partners.

"It's the largest employer in Sackville, the majority of our faculty and staff living in the local area that includes, of course, Amherst, Moncton, Memramcook, Port Elgin," says Boudreau.

"Twenty-three hundred students, local landlords, services, grocery, retail, and restaurants. If you want across campus you'll see a number of renovation projects going on. You'll see building projects, the delivery of goods and services...These bring people and dollars to this community."

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

It is hard to overestimate the impact and importance of the contribution of the Nova Scotia Community College to Nova Scotia's economy and the communities where the College has campuses.

In this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell talk to CEO Don Bureaux about the transformation of the institution over the past 20 years, its role as an employer and economic enabler, and its success adapting to changing labour market needs.

"We exist ... to produce the human capital for the economy," says Bureaux. "Approximately 90 per cent of our students are working within six months of graduation within their field of study. About 90 per cent of those graduates are working in the province of Nova Scotia. Even more impressive, a large percentage are working within the county or the next county in which they studied."

"So we tend to have students who live in their community, study in their community and work in their community."

We also talk about the increasing collaboration between the College and the universities in the province and the work of the College directly with the private supply to train workers to meet increasing job demand.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

On the latest episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell are continuing their series of conversations with organizations helping to foster innovation in Atlantic Canada. Don and David talk with Dr. Beth Mason, the Chief Executive Officer of the Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment located in Cape Breton.

Listeners may be surprised to hear the organization is one of the larger research and development organizations in the region with 40 staff. The Centre is working with 40+ companies to develop innovative new bio-economy and green energy ideas.

Dr. Mason has big plans for the bio-economy and clean technologies in Nova Scotia. Could Cape Breton develop a model and the results we have seen with the PEI bio-economy?

"When I came here what I saw was Cape Breton when I left it more than 30 years ago - dying primary industry and a hotbed for future innovation," says Dr. Mason.

"The challenge was we just weren't recognizing that. The longer you don't recognize it the longer you stagnate. But if you think globally about what the world needs today, there is absolutely no reason you can't do that in Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia, in Atlantic Canada, in Canada as a whole."

Up next we will be talking to Michelle Simms, the President and CEO of the Genesis Centre at Memorial University. Lots of great things happening in Newfoundland and Labrador these days. Subscribe to the Insights podcast wherever you get your podcasts and never miss an episode.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

The Huddle "Insights" podcast has now surpassed 25,000 downloads since it was launched a little more than a year ago. And the show's most popular episodes are with the region's successful entrepreneurs. The feature interview with J.D. Irving, Limited Co-CEO Jim Irving topped the list. He emphasized that the key to growth for companies in the region is population growth and immigration.

“If people feel welcome they generally stay if there are reasonable opportunities,” says Jim. “Just like we tell the government, money goes where it’s wanted. Well, people will stay where they’re wanted," he told "Insights" hosts David Campell and Don Mills.

“There are always opportunities,” says Jim. “Number one, though, we’ve got to get the population up. There are going to be limited opportunities if we have a declining population.”

The interview originally aired in April of last year, but the issue and Irving's analysis still resonate today.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

"After more than 50 conversations with some of Atlantic Canada’s top business and government leaders, I am more convinced than ever that the region has a bright future," says Campbell. "We have many challenges ahead of us and I look forward to shining a light on those challenges in the months ahead through the Insights podcast."

Campbell says the podcast is offering a unique perspective in a fast-growing global podcast market.

"There are more than three million podcasts on Spotify and Apple podcasts but as far as I know only one that is going deep on the economic and demographic issues that matter to us here in Atlantic Canada. It’s worth an hour of your time each week."

Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

Innovacorp is the only organization of its kind in the region, perhaps the country, that combines incubation, acceleration programming and funding to the start-up community.

Its one-stop approach has been proven successful, recently celebrating its first unicorn investment where its investment of $3-million in Meta Materials Inc. six years ago has returned $101-million to the crown corporation. Innovacorp operates three separate incubation facilities, the Labs, the Bays and COVE.

"They have utilized all of the services at Innovacorp. They've been in our incubation facility. They've used all of our acceleration programs. We invested capital in them," said CEO Malcolm Fraser. "We believe doing all of those things...provides a higher likelihood of success for these companies."

In his conversation with Don Mills on the latest episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Fraser talks about the focus of Innovacorp and its success, as well as the increasing collaboration within the region with similar organizations.

You can listen to the conversation with Cooper in the player above. Better yet, search for “Huddle Insights” on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

As part of their ongoing "Insights podcast series on fostering innovation in Atlantic Canada, David Campbell and Don Mills talk with Jeff White, the CEO of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF). White talks about the importance of investing at the earliest stage in the life of an innovation-focused company.

These early investments allow the firms to attract other sources of capital and ultimately scale their innovative ideas to national and international markets. White says NBIF has generated an average annual return of 6.6 percent over 18 years on the money it has invested in startup companies. Too bad they are not open to individual investors.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

As part of a new series of Huddle "Insights" podcasts, Don Mills and David Campbell are talking to experts to determine what we should do to foster a more innovative economy in Atlantic Canada. New research published by the OECD finds the four Atlantic Provinces invest far less than the OECD average in research and development as a share of GDP.

What would it take to encourage businesses to invest more into innovation? How can we better leverage public research and development expenditures to create stronger provincial economies?

What is the role of entrepreneurship and innovative start-up companies? This is where we start the series by talking to Matt Cooper, Chief Innovation Officer at Volta in Halifax. Cooper goes deep into how Volta is supporting tech-based entrepreneurship in Atlantic Canada and helping nurture new companies with great ideas.

From recruitment support to preparing a compelling business plan for investors, Volta and other incubators around New Brunswick have an important role to play.

You can listen to the conversation with Cooper in the player above. Better yet, search for “Huddle Insights” on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

CEO Wendy Luther joins Don Mills and David Campbell to discuss Halifax Partnership's new five-year strategy, which focuses on three themes: People, Planet and Prosperity.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

In this episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Premier Andrew Furey provides a thoughtful overview of the demographic and fiscal challenges faced by Newfoundland and Labrador, the need to diversify the province's economy, and the near term opportunities for the province's oil industry which represents 25 per cent of its GDP in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

The “Insights” podcast combines the experiences of an economist, David Campbell, and a social scientist, Don Mills, to explore the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada, promote data-driven decision-making among policymakers, and encourage a wider dialogue and debate leading to greater prosperity for the region.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

Premier Tim Houston of Nova Scotia wants to be remembered for setting the stage for growth when people look back on his government's achievements decades from now. Population growth is a top priority along with improving access to healthcare, he tells Don Mills and David Campbell on the latest Huddle "Insights" podcast.

"People drive economies so we need people," says Houston of his ambitious goal to grow the population to two million by 2060. "We know the flip side of that from depopulation. We know what happens when communities lose people. Schools close, stores close, and then you get caught in that negative3 vortex because it's oftentimes it's those that remain are aging. The cycle goes on and on."

"The cycle is being broken; the population is turning around. People are realizing what we already know, and that's the quality of life here, where you're never far from a city and you're never far from a beach. You can have everything you want in between, so we have a lot to offer people."

In his chat with Mills and Campbell, Houston also says improving access to quality healthcare is his other main priority.

This is the third of our exclusive series of "Insights" interviews with Atlantic Canada’s premiers; on the last episode Mills and Campbell spoke with New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

This is the second of our exclusive Insights interviews with Atlantic Canada’s premiers. New Brunswick weathered the pandemic better than most jurisdictions in the areas of public health, economic growth, population growth and government finances. Premier Blaine Higgs discusses a wide variety of topics from how his government tackled the pandemic to economic development, municipal reform, bilingualism and the new health care strategy.

Higgs says the province is emerging strongly from the pandemic, both in the eyes of people who already live here and those looking to move here from somewhere else.

"It caused people to look within and see what a great province we have," he says.

"As a province, I've always felt it was a belief in one's self-worth - not, we can't do that in New Brunswick, but yes we can...then you see people looking at us for the first time and started to call and buy houses virtually."

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

In this episode, Don Mills and David Campbell start a series of conversations with the Premiers of Atlantic Canada, beginning with Dennis King of P.E.I.

Progressive Conservative Premier King is an unconventional poilitical leader in these highly partisan times. He is a collaborator - a friendly, affable and self-effacing person who gives credit to and works well with others, including opposition parties and former premiers from other parties.

A noteworthy example would be former Liberal premier Wade MacLauchlan. King credits him with creating the right policies and setting the right tone for immigration, which has helped P.E.I. outpace the country in attracting newcomers to the province. King says it's important to make it easier for people to settle down there.

"Anybody who moves here, whether you're a refugee or an immigrant, or whether you're relocating back from Calgary after having lived there for 20 years, you want a place to live, a place to thrive, a place for your family to be safe, and you want those comforts of home," says King.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

Don Mills and David Campbell chat with Bernard Leblanc, the CEO of the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport, about the impact of the pandemic and the efforts underway to rebuild its routes and increase cargo traffic. They also discuss how important the decision to move to a community-based airport authority was to improve infrastructure and service in air transportation across Canada.

When the airport released its last economic impact study in 2016, it showed the Moncton airport was a significant economic driver, employing about 500 people full-time and generating around $665-million in economic activity.

"There's a huge benefit in having an airport and that's why no region or municipality wants to give up their airport," said LeBlanc.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

On this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell take a closer look at the importance of the agricultural sector to the economy both across Canada and in Atlantic Canada with a wide-ranging conversation with Sylvain Charlebois - one of Canada's top food experts widely known as the "Food Professor."

Charlebois, the Senior Director of the Agri-Foods Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, chats with Mills about the opportunities for growth in an Atlantic region that already employs from 25,000 to 27,000 people and generates up to $7-billion in exports.

"There's so much potential, not only in Atlantic Canada but across the country, to grow the economy by fostering this mentality of growing processing," he says. "That's where the innovation will happen. The biggest challenge we have in the Atlantic is processing. Increasing processing captivity should be the number one priority."

Charlebois also talks about issues like food inflation and the potential for growing the organic sector.

This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

Kathryn Lockhart, the CEO of the startup accelerator Propel, says start-up incubators and accelerators are playing a vital role in nurturing the tech sector across Atlantic Canada, supporting, in some way, around 90 per cent of all recent successful tech startups across the region. Lockhart shares her vision of an Atlantic Canada that is home to dozens of ‘baby unicorns’, startups with a valuation of at least $50-million.

This episode features a fascinating interview with one of Canada's most distinguished market researchers, Michael Adams, the Chairman and Co-Founder of Environics Research. In this wide-ranging conversation, Michael provides listeners with a data-based analysis of the diverging differences in values between Canadians and Americans through the pioneering work done by Environics in social values research.

David Campbell and Don Mills continue their series profiling the region's top entrepreneurs with one of Atlantic Canada's most successful business leaders, Clearwater Seafoods co-founder John Risley, someone who has been part of building three different companies that sold for more than $1 billion each.

When people think about the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC) they usually focus on lottery tickets and big prizes, but its impact is much greater than that. It's an important contributor to the economy through its role as an employer and the indirect jobs created in the region which support the lottery.

ALC has contributed $10-billion since its inception in the 1970s to provincial governments in support of public services like health and education. In the latest Huddle "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell chat with ALC CEO Patrick Daigle about the economic impact of the region's lottery corporation.

The Century Initiative is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that is advocating an audacious long-term population strategy for Canada to achieve a goal of 100 million Canadians by the end of this century. In conversation with co-host Don Mill, CEO Lisa Lalande outlines the reasoning behind this ambitious goal and what it would mean for Atlantic Canada.

On this week’s podcast, entrepreneur Blair Hyslop, Kathryn Lockhart, CEO of Propel and Jeff Larsen, head of the Creative Destruction Lab in Atlantic Canada, discuss a new proposal for a new regional equity tax credit to help grow investments in the region's companies.

Under the proposal, qualified businesses could receive angel investment from across Atlantic Canada and the investors would receive a tax credit no matter where the company is located within the four provinces.

The three make a strong case that the time is now for such a program as a vital tool to expand the pool of risk capital available to early-stage companies across the region. All three believe Atlantic Canada is well-positioned to benefit from innovation-led growth in the coming years.

Francis McGuire has a very interesting background, having been both a Deputy Minister during the Frank McKenna era and the CEO that built Moncton-based Major Drilling into the second biggest company in its sector in the world.

In this edition of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, McGuire talks with co-hosts David Campbell and Don Mills about the strategies he used to grow Major Drilling and the current ones he is employing to take Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) in a new direction.

Convinced by others, including Frank McKenna, to take on his current role as the CEO of ACOA, McGuire has taken the organization in a new direction. The organization has placed a greater emphasis on immigration to help address the growing labour market needs within the region, as well as preparing organizations for automation and the digitalization of the economy in Atlantic Canada.

This week's Huddle "Insights" podcast features a conversation with arguably the most influential IT leader in Atlantic Canada: Gerry Pond.

Pond chats with co-host David Campbell about his career starting out in the mid-1960s at NBTel dealing with "party line" complaints in rural New Brunswick rising to CEO of Aliant and then nearly two decades of founding and investing in IT startups across Atlantic Canada, including Radian6 and Q1 Labs.

He weighs in on everything from the pipeline for tech entrepreneurs in the region; the role of government to help encourage tech startups; and why he is bullish on the ocean technology cluster.

In part two of their conversation with longtime CTV Atlantic broadcaster Steve Murphy, Don and David chat with Steve about his favourite interview in 45 years of broadcasting. Steve also shares his thoughts on the most significant Atlantic Canadian premiers in the last four decades.

In the first of a two-part interview, longtime CTV broadcaster Steve Murphy relinquishes his role as an interviewer and becomes the interviewee, as co-hosts Don Mills and David Campbell quiz him about his 45-year career, including the most significant events he has covered, his assessment of the most consequential premiers, most interesting interviews and how Atlantic Canada has changed over his the course of four decades in the business.

BioVectra plans to build a facility on Prince Edward Island that will eventually manufacture enough doses of mRNA vaccines to supply all of Canada, which is big news for Canadians as well as Atlantic Canadians. The recent announcement shines a light on a 50-year old company that employs more than 550 people in P.E.I. and Nova Scotia.

"There are 35 million-plus Canadians. We could probably within a year single-handedly make sure the demand for Canada has been taken care of if we were the ones to produce the vaccine in the future," says company CEO Oliver Technow.

On this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Technow speaks with co-host Don Mills about the origins of the company and the original vision of its founder Regis Duffy, and how the company has grown over the decades to its present capabilities.

Envision, the new economic development agency for the Great Saint John Region, has just released its five strategic plan that calls for growing the population by 25,000 and the regional economy by 30-35 percent over the next 10 years.

On this week's podcast, Don Mills talks with Envision CEO Paulette Hicks about the organization's aggressive growth plans and the development of a new brand for the region that will be introduced early in 2022.

John Bragg got his entrepreneurial start as a teenager in the blueberry business. He quit law school because he decided he was meant to be a businessman, not a lawyer, and started off down a path that led to the creation of Oxford Frozen Foods and the telecommunications company Eastlink, both headquartered in Nova Scotia.

Bragg is one of the Maritimes business titans that have inspired books by Donald Savoie, who joins David Campbell and Don Mills on the "Insights" podcast this week to talk about The Rural Entrepreneur: John Bragg.

If you haven’t heard of James Mullinger, it’s time to get acquainted. An immigrant from the UK who recently became a Canadian citizen, he is now a central figure in Atlantic Canadian cultural and media circles.

James is a comedian, magazine editor, author, podcaster and, most of all, entrepreneur. He joins Don Mills and David Campbell to talk about his journey and how he became an accidental champion for Atlantic Canada.

35 podcasts. That's roughly 35 hours of conversations with business and thoughts leaders about Atlantic Canada's economic success stories and the challenges and opportunities ahead for the region.

On this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell chat with Huddle editor Mark Leger about the people they've spoken to (a group that includes former Newfoundland finance minister Cathy Bennett, JDI co-CEO Jim Irving and Frank McKenna) and the issues they've discussed (from labour force development to immigration to energy development and innovation).

There are relatively few publicly held companies based in Atlantic Canada. In recent years, the region’s high-flying technology companies have typically grown to a point and then sold to a national or international firm. The region is also known for its intergenerational family-owned businesses. Should more firms look at listing on the public stock markets such as the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)?

On the week's episode of the "Insights" podcast, Denis Larocque, President and CEO of Major Drilling and Andrew McLaughlin, the company’s VP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, weigh in on the pros and cons of being a publicly-traded company. Moncton-based Major Drilling, one of the province’s few publicly traded firms, has used its ability to raise capital to become one of the world's largest drilling services companies.

McLaughlin has written a persuasive report outlining the benefits and believes more publicly held companies would be good for the economy, which Huddle will be publishing later this week. He says New Brunswick has a lot of large family-owned businesses and a strong ecosystem of smaller businesses.

"What seems to be missing is that middle layer that can expand into titan status. I'm talking about companies with $200-million in revenue that can grow up to the $1-billion mark," McLaughlin tells "Insights" co-host David Campbell.

"It's this layer of companies that are the drivers of wealth creation and economic dynamism in other provinces. It's this realm where public companies can play a particularly prominent role."

This episode takes a close look at the challenges of fulfilling the promise of delivering high-speed internet to 100 percent of households in Atlantic Canada. News flash, it is not likely going to happen, at least using fibre lines to deliver the service. Our conversation with Lee Bragg of Halifax-based Eastlink provides a much clearer understanding of the challenges for companies that must remain competitive and governments that have promised affordable high-speed internet no matter where you live.

In the latest episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell discuss the quality of the education system in Atlantic Canada with Paul Bennett, one of Canada's leading experts on public education.

Addressing climate change is among the most important challenges facing the world today. However, many questions remain about how it can be accomplished. How long will it take? Who will pay for the transition? What other energy sources will replace fossil fuels? What about nuclear, hydrogen and tidal energy? Neil Jacobsen from the Atlantica Centre for Energy is on the podcast this week to answer these questions.

He will also talk about the economic impact of the energy sector in Atlantic Canada and how we can continue to use energy as an economic development driver in the years ahead. If you want a primer on the energy transition from the perspective of Atlantic Canada, Jacobsen provides an ideal summary.

Charlene Johnson of the Newfoundland and Labrador Oil & Gas Industries Association (Noia) says don't give up on the oil and gas sector just yet. On the podcast this week, the Noia CEO explains why it's a critical part of global efforts to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and an important economic driver in Atlantic Canada going forward.

The ocean sector in Canada is large and growing, currently representing $30-billion in GDP and employing more than 300,000 Canadians. This week, we look at this increasingly important sector of our economy, especially for Atlantic Canada, by looking at the work of COVE (the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship). In conversation with COVE CEO Melanie Nadeau, we discuss the services and facilities provided by COVE to test new technologies, their incubation work with startups and their contribution to workforce development.

What started 15 years ago as an idea to build a new industry around a few key assets has grown into an impressive biosciences cluster with 60 firms, 2,200 employees, and more than $300 million worth of exports in 2020. The PEI BioAlliance has been at the centre of the cluster’s development and its CEO Rory Francis talks about its successes and future potential. He also provides insight into how the model might be replicated with other nascent cluster development efforts across Atlantic Canada.

Brian Lee Crowley has little patience for governments that try to spend their way to economic prosperity. He also has no time for the view that Atlantic Canada is less prosperous because it has been mistreated by central Canada since Confederation.

Crowley is the managing director and founder of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He's also the founder and former president of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, now part of the Fraser Institute. He joins Don and David to talk about how Atlantic Canada needs to take charge of its economic destiny and stop looking to Ottawa to solve its problems through equalization payments and regional aid programs.

On this week's Huddle "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell chat with David Dingwall, President and Vice-Chancellor of Cape Breton University, about the role of post-secondary education institutions as engines of economic development across Atlantic Canada.

They discuss the direct economic impact of this sector and its increasingly important role as conduits for immigration, incubators of new entrepreneurs and catalysts for research and development.

Louis-Philippe Gauthier, Senior Director, Legislative Affairs, Atlantic for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) joins hosts Don Mill and David Campbell on the Insights podcast to discuss the state of small business in Atlantic Canada and what they are looking for in the upcoming federal election. Armed with the latest CFIB survey data, Gauthier weighs in on the need for continued government assistance for industries hit the hardest by Covid-19 and the challenges of vaccine mandates. They also discuss longer-term issues such as the state of entrepreneurship in Atlantic Canada and the pending retirement of 30,000 business owners across the region.

Atlantic Canada is a "have not" region but Niels Veldhuis of the Fraser Institute says it doesn't have to be that way. The president of the public policy research institute - or "think tank" as organizations like this are commonly known - tells Don Mills that the Atlantic provinces could follow the example of small provinces like Saskatchewan and create better investment climates that could encourage investment and keep its young people from moving to faster-growing, more economically successful regions.

In this episode of the Insights Podcast, we have a lively panel discussion about the current federal election and the opportunities that it holds for economic development for Atlantic Canada. The stunning victory of the PCs in Nova Scotia raise some warning signs for the Liberal Government regarding the mood of Canadians at this stage of the pandemic. We discuss the outcome of the Nova Scotian election and its likely impacts on the province as well as look at the region's needs from the federal government going forward and outline specific opportunities that would help the region grow.

David Chaundy, President and CEO of the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council joins us this week on the Insights podcast to talk about the challenges and opportunities for the regional economy coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Chaundy has convinced our ageing population and its impact on the workforce is a top risk to our economic prosperity in the years ahead.
They also discuss recent reports published by APEC on a range of topics including demographics, migration, urban/rural dynamics and capital investment.

In the fall, Alberta will hold a referendum on Canada’s Equalization system. The Alberta government wants leverage to force the federal government to negotiate a new formula that could significantly reduce the amount provided to Atlantic Canada each year.

Do provincial governments in Atlantic Canada rely too much on tax revenues generated elsewhere in the country? Do we suffer from a culture of dependency? Huddle editor Mark Leger hosts a conversation with Don and David about this important and controversial topic. In addition to the Equalization program, Mark, Don and David discuss Employment Insurance and other income and transfer programs. What role do things like geography, wages and immigration play? Don and David offer their insights and what they think can be done to address the challenges governments face with such programs.

Frank McKenna, Deputy Chair of TD Bank, joins Don and David on Insights this week to discuss economic development today compared to 25-30 years ago when he was Premier of New Brunswick. He weighs in on the importance of attracting industry as well as supporting homegrown firms. McKenna doesn’t pull any punches when talking about natural resources development, immigration and provincial fiscal sustainability. He also provides good ideas on how to engage with the public in the social media age. Not that he is thinking about running again but McKenna does say this would be a great time to be in politics.

On this week's episode of the Insights podcast, David Campbell chats with City of Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold and City Manager Marc Landry. This is the third in their series of discussions with municipal leaders in Atlantic Canada about how we can build prosperous cities.

There is no doubt about the City of Moncton’s status as a successful city. It has been one of the fastest-growing larger cities in Canada over the past five years and the metropolitan region (including the City of Dieppe and Town of Riverview) has outpaced Halifax for gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the past 10 years. Mayor Dawn Arnold shares her views on the importance of immigration, arts and culture and the city’s bilingual population and Marc Landry stresses the importance of partnership and collaboration. We hope you enjoy this conversation!

Charlottetown is the fastest growing city in Atlantic Canada, having grown by nearly 10% since the last census. This growth has not been an accident and is based on good planning and strategy as well as close collaboration with the various public agencies involved in economic development including the Port Authority, the Greater Charlottetown Development Corporation and the Downtown Business Inc. Our conversation with former four-term Mayor Clifford Lee offers many insights for other communities wishing to emulate Charlottetown's success.

Cranes in the air and growth in the GDP and population. This week, Don and David begin a series of conversations with the leaders of successful Maritimes communities. First up, the mayor of the region's largest urban centre.

The conventional wisdom around the global population, backed by the United Nations' own projections, is that it will continue to grow in the coming decades. Economies around the world are banking on that outcome, tying their growth plans to having more and more people generate new economic activity.

Darrell Bricker, Global CEO of Public Affairs for Ipsos and co-author of ‘Empty Planet’, says the global population is actually going to shrink instead and policymakers around the world have to rethink their growth strategies as a result. On the latest episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Mills talks with Bricker about what that means for Atlantic Canada, which has experienced slow growth in terms of population and GDP for more than a decade.

In his first in-depth interview since leaving the premier's office in 2018, Brian Gallant chats with David Campbell about how to grow an economy that has been pretty flat for the past 15 years. They talk through strategies to grow the population, focus on development in the northern region that continues to fall behind the urban regions in the south, and achieve true reconciliation with Indigenous communities.

Now the CEO of the Canadian Centre for the Purpose of the Corporation, Gallant also talks about the successes and shortcomings of his own time in office and answers Campbell's questions about whether he'd like to return to politics sometime in the future.

Don Mills and David Campbell look at the economic challenges and opportunities in Nova Scotia in the third of a four-part series on provincial economies in Atlantic Canada. This episode features an in-depth interview with Scott Brison, the Chair of the Economic Growth Council, who provides his insights on how best to grow the economy within Nova Scotia.

Scott provides some interesting examples of emerging opportunities in the province, some addressing a key challenge for Nova Scotia - growing the economy beyond Halifax where most of the population and economic growth is happening in the province.

With the recent release of the re-opening plans by each of the four Atlantic Provinces, David and Don, in conversation with Huddle editor Mark Leger, look at the opportunities to jump-start the economic recovery. In this podcast, the lack of a coordinated re-opening strategy for the whole of Atlantic Canada is specifically questioned. Don and David look at several impacts and potential strategies to advance the re-opening of the region without undue risk to the population and challenges the seemingly ultra-conservative approach currently in place given the pace of vaccinations and declining cases and hospitalizations across Atlantic Canada.

The recently released Greene Report underscores the financial difficulties faced by Newfoundland and Labrador. A province with a debt load of $47-billion, an aging and declining population, and an over-reliance on the oil and gas industry. The province has a structural deficit as a result of spending during premier Danny Williams' time in government and has had 61 deficits in the 71 years since joining Confederation. The question is whether or not the province is ready to face its problems head-on and accept the strong medicine prescribed by Dame Greene. Former Liberal Finance Minister Cathy Bennett joins us to address this question.

In this episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell start a four-part series on each of the provincial economies in the region. Prince Edward Island has led the way in both population growth and GDP growth in the region for the last decade and this episode explores the reasons for the Island's success. This week's featured interview is with Wade McLauchlan in his first in-depth interview since leaving the Premier's office in 2019.

In the third of a three-part series on economic development, David and Don are joined by Mark Leger for a round table discussion on the key elements associated with successful urban economic development drawing on the success of three Atlantic Canadian cities as role models for other urban communities in the region that are themselves economic hubs.

On a special edition of the podcast, David Campbell chats with Malcolm Bricklin, the entrepreneur behind the Bricklin SV-1 that was manufactured in New Brunswick in the 1970s. David and Malcolm talk about auto manufacturing in the province back then, the role of Premier Hatfield and what went wrong. Bricklin shares anecdotes about his interactions with Elon Musk, Henry Kissinger and Slobodan Milošević, among others.

In his 80s and showing no signs of slowing down, the CEO of Visionary Vehicles is back with a new electric vehicle project, the Bricklin 3EV. This conversation was the keynote event at the Town of Riverview annual Sustaina-Palooza conference in April. The three-day virtual event featured 40 speakers from 14 countries leading a conversation about innovative leadership within the sustainability sector.

In this episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell have a look at the challenges of rural economic development and speak to one of the region's biggest proponents of rural development, John Bragg, CEO of the Bragg Group of Companies that includes Oxford Frozen Foods and Eastlink.

With more than 600 employees in Oxford, Nova Scotia, and more than 6,000 across the entire group of companies, John discusses the impact of the growth of his businesses on the small town of Oxford and offers some concrete suggestions on how other rural communities can grow and what is needed to support rural development in Atlantic Canada.

The economy in Atlantic Canada has underperformed the rest of the country despite all the federal, provincial and municipal economic development efforts.

Key economic metrics like GDP growth and job creation have lagged behind the rest of the country in the region with the exception of PEI. At least a billion dollars per year is spent on economic development activities in the region. It is fair to ask whether or not we are receiving a fair return on that investment or if that spending is fostering economic growth at all. At a minimum, it is time for a higher level of accountability.

In the first in a three-part series of conversations about improving economic development performance in Atlantic Canada, hosts Don Mills and David Campbell chat with Stephen Lund, the CEO of Toronto Global, the organization responsible for attracting international investment to the region. Stephen is the only person to have been CEO of both Opportunities New Brunswick (ONB) and Nova Scotia Business Inc., the two organizations responsible for leading development in those two provinces.

On the Insights podcast for the past couple of weeks, Don Mills and David Campbell have been talking about the importance of growing the population of Atlantic Canada. In this episode, Don chats with Jennifer Watts, CEO of the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS) about how to improve immigrant retention in the region.

Historically, the four Atlantic Provinces only retain about half of the newcomers over the longer term. Retention rates have been getting a little better in recent years, particularly for those who have a job that matches their education, skills and background.

J.D. Irving, Ltd. is among the largest employers across Atlantic Canada and in recent years has been struggling to recruit staff particularly into specific occupations such as truckers and forestry workers. They have started to recruit immigrants as part of their overall human resources development plan.

In this week's episode, David Campbell and Don Mills sit down with Co-CEO Jim Irving to talk about the company’s immigration attraction activities and to get his insight into how we can better attract and retain newcomers to our region. Instead of just complaining about the growing shortage of workers, Jim Irving believes the private sector should work closely with the government to develop solutions.
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In this episode, Don Mills and David Campbell make the case for population growth across Atlantic Canada.

There are over 300,000 people expected to retire in the next decade and not nearly enough young people to take their place in the workforce. If we can’t significantly boost the working-age population it will force many industries to downsize or leave the region. Less economic activity will lead to less tax revenue for governments imperilling the sustainability of our public services, particularly health care. We talk about immigration as well as attracting people from the rest of Canada. This is not just a challenge for cities. Workforce shortages are facing all regions of Atlantic Canada.

This is the first in a series of conversations about population growth in the region that will feature interviews with area companies and advocates for increased immigration.

David Campbell was in his 20s helping Frank McKenna pitch companies on setting up in New Brunswick. Don Mills was an MBA student in Halifax already incubating the market research company he would run for 40 years. In episode one of "Insights", the show hosts talk about the early days of their careers - David the economist, Don the social scientist - and how their work in the decades since informs the way they see the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada. They also chat about the issues they'll cover on the show and the kinds of people they'll interview.

A Nova Scotia social scientist and a New Brunswick economist are teaming up to host a podcast that explores the challenges and opportunities facing Atlantic Canada. Mills and Campbell, two of the region’s leading researchers and analysts, join Huddle editor and “Home Office” podcast host Mark Leger to talk about what listeners can expect from the new show launching on April 8 on the Huddle podcast network.