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New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt joined Don and David on the Insights podcast this week. She is the province’s 35th premier and, while only been on the job for three months, is already facing an unexpected challenge, the threat of a prolonged trade war with the United States. We talk about a wide range of issues from health care to immigration and long term economic development. One interesting topic discussed is her focus on empowering the Cabinet. Increasingly in New Brunswick and across Canada, decision making has been more and more centered in the Premier’s/Prime Minister’s Office. It looks like Premier Holt wants to let her Ministers play a more important role. For almost 20 years we have been talking about developing an electronic health record system for all New Brunswickers. She seems convinced her government will finally get it done. Municipal tax reform, housing and energy development are also covered in this conversation. Well worth an hour of your time.
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Vision 2025 was an event held last week at the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub focussed on the growing opportunities for the life sciences and bio-science sector in Nova Scotia and featured presentations from four companies in this space including Oberland Agriscience and 3DBioFibR. The event was co-sponsored by GreenSpring BioInnovation Hub, IGNITE Atlantic and Life Sciences Nova Scotia. David and Don were the keynote speakers at the event and recorded a live podcast with Doug Jones, the Founder and CEO of Ignite as the guest host for the podcast, where they discussed the opportunities and challenges associated with growing this segment of the economy.
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There is a good chance that you have not heard about Don MacDougall, but he is the person most credited by many for Toronto's Major League Baseball's franchise while he was the President of Labatt's Breweries, where he led the company from third place in market share to first place. He was also closely involved with the establishment of the Montreal Grand Prix and the Labatt Brier. He has been a serial entrepreneur including being the owner of Novatronics, a company with some involvement in the development of the Canadarm. He recently returned to his home province of PEI where he purchased the Mill River Resort and Eagles Glenn near Cavendish. He led the transformation of Slemon Park in Summerside after the closure of its military base to a thriving business park with more than $400 million in exports. He is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and the PEI Business Hall of Fame. He is also a past Chancellor of UPEI where their School of Business is named after him. It is an amazing story of business success and community involvement.
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The Bertossi Group of restaurants is the largest privately owned group of fine dining restaurants east of Montreal. Stephanie and Maurizio Bertossi opened their first restaurant , the Perla in the 1980s. Few who live in or have visited Halifax have not dined at one of their well-known restaurants that have been around for decades, including the Bicycle Thief, Ristorante a Mano, La Frasca and il Mercato Trattoria.The Group is owned by Hakan Uluer, a personable and ambitious immigrant originally from Istanbul. Uluer began as a dishwasher in his native Turkey before ending up in Halifax with his Nova Scotian born wife and working with the Bertossi where he eventually became first a partner and finally the owner.
The secret of the Bertossi Group's longevity and success is attention to detail and consistency in service delivery, dining experience and food quality. Uluer recently opened two new restaurants on the Halifax waterfront, Water Pool and Matadoras, and now employs over 750 people with an expectation of growing that number to 1,000 by the end of 2025. It is a true entrepreneurial story.
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On this week’s Insights, Don and David talk with Heidi Leslie, founder & CEO of Halifax-based Crux Energy Consulting to discuss the energy sector in Atlantic Canada. We talk about artificial intelligence and cloud computing and the demand for data centres and whether this is an opportunity for Atlantic Canada. We discuss the Newfoundland-Quebec electricity deal and other energy generation projects announced in 2024. Leslie also weighs in on natural gas and makes a strong case that the region will be using natural gas for decades to come. If you want to know her view on green hydrogen, nuclear energy, what we are going to pay for electricity and other energy-related topics, click on the link or download wherever you get your podcasts.
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This week Gilles Volpé, President of NB Gas with Liberty Utilities joined Don and David on the Insights podcast. Liberty Utilities is the natural gas distribution company in New Brunswick. Gilles provides an important tutorial on the sources and uses of natural gas now and into the future. On an energy equivalent basis, New Brunswick currently uses as much natural gas as it does electricity. Most large industrial companies across the province use it. In southern New Brunswick, almost all hospitals, schools, government buildings and other big commercial organizations heat with gas. A considerable amount of electricity is already produced using natural gas and NB Power is building a new gas-fired generation facility in the Moncton region. Where does the gas come from? Unfortunately, mostly from Alberta and the southern United States. In many cases it costs more to transport the gas thousands of kilometres than the cost of the gas itself. We talk about the potential to green the gas system in the years ahead through renewable sources and other topics.
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On boxing day of 2024, we share one of the most listened to podcasts of 2024. In this episode of the Insights Podcast, we focus on Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy and the impact of that strategy on Atlantic Canada. Building ships for the navy is a complex and complicated endeavour and there is probably no other group than the Irvings that were capable of competing and winning a national bid to build those ships in Halifax. Irving Shipbuilding has 2,400 people working to complete the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) portion of their contract and is readying to begin to build the combatant "River Class" ships. They have developed a skilled and capable workforce and provided Canada with a sovereign ability to build its own military ships. The company has already spent more than $500 million in the region since the beginning of the AOPS program and contracts with more than 130 companies across the region. In our conversation with their CEO, Dirk Lesko, a veteran shipbuilder, he talks about the further investments needed to prepare for the combatant program, his pride in his leadership group and labour force and how the current shipbuilding facilities compare globally. It is a big deal for our region and well worth a listen.
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The tourism industry across Atlantic Canada took a significant hit during the pandemic. On this week's Insights, Don and David check in with Joanne Bérubé-Gagné from the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick to discuss the rebound since. We cover a wide range of topics from the evolution of accommodations to 'backyard' tourism to new product development and encouraging the thousands of newcomers to explore their adopted province. We also discuss Joanne's thoughts about the new provincial government and its potential vision for tourism. Drawing from his nearly 40 years' experience working with tourism clients, Don weighs in with his thoughts on how to strengthen the tourism sector and its impact across Atlantic Canada.
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Although JD Irving may not be a household name that is familiar to many, it is the largest vertically integrated conglomerate in Atlantic Canada and one of the biggest in Canada with more than 20,000 employees. It is run by brothers Jim and Robert Irving as CO-CEOs. Robert has responsibility, among others, for Midland Trucking, Midland Courier, Irving Tissue and Cavendish Farms among from his head office in Dieppe and employs more than 2,000 people in the Moncton area alone, including 700 head office jobs. In a rare and exclusive interview with the Insights Podcast, he talks about the companies under his direction, the continued growth of the companies and some major recent capital investments and even succession. It is a surprisingly candid conversation with one of the region's most important yet reticent business leaders, who shares a lot of facts not previously known publicly.
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Few people will be aware of Emmerson Packaging, an Amherst based manufacturing company that produces packaging for the paper goods, pet food and food markets. Nonetheless, most consumers would have their packaging in their homes with clients like McCain Foods, Cavendish and High Liner Foods, not to mention house branded products from Walmart, Costco, Sobeys and Loblaws. The company is nearly 70 years old and was founded in Saint John, New Brunswick. Its main production facility (300,000 sq ft) is in Amherst with more than 350 employees and another 100 at its Belleville, Ontario location.
Their third generation CEO, Stephen Emmerson was our guest on this episode of the Insights Podcast and talks about the challenges of competing for business across North America and why it is possible to do so from Amherst, Nova Scotia, even in a capital intensive manufacturing business. It is an impressive business success story.
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Millers Expand "Parts for Trucks" Nationally
Corey and Brett Miller purchased Parts for Trucks in 2017. The company specializes in serving the heavy duty and commercial truck market. At the time, they owned the well-known Miller Tire. Working with Seafort Capital, they did essentially a reverse takeover of Fleet Brake in 2022, a bigger, western Canadian based competitor that nearly doubled the size of the company. That acquisition made Parts for Trucks a coast to coast national company. The company is headquartered in Dartmouth and is now the largest in its sector in Canada. In this episode of the Insights Podcast, we talk with Corey Miller, the company's CEO about the company's overall growth strategy, its recent expansion and some of the challenges of integrating two companies together with somewhat different cultures and business practices.
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Higher Liner Foods is a Nova Scotia based company that is North America's largest processor of value-added frozen seafood products under a number of brands like Fisher Boy, High Liner and Catch of the Day. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion annually and the company has 1,200 employees. Athough it is listed on the TSX, the Hennigar family owns 38% of the stock. It recently celebrating its 125th Anniversary.
In this episode of the Insights Podcast, we talked with the company's CEO, Paul Jewer,about the company's success and how it pivoted from being a harvester of fish to exclusively a processor of fish following the cod moratorium in the 1990s. The company sources 20 species of fish from around the world for its three processing plants, the largest of which is in Lunenburg with nearly 300 employees. It is yet another story of a successful Atlantic Canadian company competing internationally and generating export revenues for our region.
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Atlantic Business Magazine is celebrating the 35th Anniversary of its founding by Edwina and Hubert Hutton who sold the magazine to their daughter Tonia Hutton and long-time employee and editor Dawn Chafe a few years ago. The Huttons were a dynamic force who built the Atlantic Business brand together. Edwina recently passed away and we dedicate this podcast to her memory as an outstanding businesswoman. Atlantic Business is now one of the last print publications owned and operated by Atlantic Canadians. Most print publications have struggled with the fragmentation of news coverage and the growing dominance of social media, especially in terms of the competition for advertising revenue. Atlantic Business has demonstrated its ability to adapt to a rapidly changing market environment by developing not just a magazine but a business network enterprise that has established a number of signature business recognition programs and events that now contribute about a third of their annual revenues. Atlantic Business has led the fight to highlight and recognize business success since its very beginnings. It is a great story of resilience and perseverance.
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Today on the Insights podcast, Don and David talk with Dr. Herb Emery from the University of New Brunswick about the changes to the immigration, temporary worker and international student levels announced by the federal government. The cuts are significant and could have a big impact on Atlantic Canada. The conversation covers a wide range of topics, from the importance of setting a population growth target to the implications in rural Atlantic Canada and the many communities that have been focused on immigration to help meet workforce demand. Will the cuts be necessary to address concerns, or will they return the region to population decline? Listen to this week's episode to find out.
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Arguably, Newfoundland and Labrador is at one of the most consequential moments in its history. Among its challenges, the province is the oldest in the country and some of its most important industries are facing an uncertain future. At the same time, there are multiple opportunities for growth including new oil and gas development, mining projects, the use of wind energy to power new industries, tourism, as well as technology-based sectors. Dr. Rob Greenwood, Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development and Engagement, and Chief Economic Development Officer for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador joins Don and David this week to talk about NL Futures, an initiative meant to ensure the province can prosper in the years ahead. NL Futures has three main themes: labour market, productivity and boosting rural economic development capacity. Greenwood makes a strong case the province’s best days lie ahead.
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Donald Savoie is back on the Insight's podcast talking about his new book Speaking Truth to Canadians about their Public Service. This is a sobering reflection on the state of the federal civil service in Canada written by someone who has spent his career studying government in Canada. The number of the federal civil servants has grown substantially in recent years while Canadians' satisfaction with public services has gone down. Forty years ago, around 25% of the workforce was located in Ottawa and now it is closer to 50%. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to the challenge, but this book represents a good starting point diagnosing the main issues and detailing how previous governments tried to increase the effectiveness of the civil service. It is vitally important for Canada to have an effective public service with a motivated and engaged workforce. This conversation is well worth an hour of your time.
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Recently, David and Don were the closing keynote speakers at ACG's Third Annual Atlantic Conference in Halifax which attracted 200 potential investors in Atlantic Canada. ACG (Association for Corporate Growth) is the largest M&A organization in North American with more than 15,000 members. Christine Pound, a senior partner with Stewart McKelvey and the Co-Chair of the Conference was the host of a live recorded Insights Podcast where David & Don, drawing on the insights gained from more than 180 podcasts, shared their opinions about the investment environment and opportunities within the region, as well as their optimism about the future of Atlantic Canada.
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Our guest on this episode of the Insights Podcast is Nik Nanos. Nik is one of the best-known pollsters in Canada, appearing regularly on CTV and Bloomberg News to talk about his latest research about the attitudes and opinions of Canadians based on his weekly tracking polls (@nanos.ca). His research is also used regularly by the Globe & Mail. He has also had a long-time involvement as a volunteer leader in the public opinion and market research industry, most recently as Chair of the Canadian Research and Intelligence Council (CRIC). In a wide-ranging conversation, Nik talks about the founding of his company in 1987 right out of university, the challenges facing the research industry, the current mood of Canadians on a variety of issues and the most likely outcome of the coming Federal election. Those interested in public opinion and who follow politics will enjoy this conversation.
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On this week's Insights Podcast, we feature a wide-ranging conversation with David Hutchens, the CEO of St.John's based Fortis, a major electrical utility in North America, with holdings across Canada, in the United States and the Caribbean. Listed on both the TSX and the NYSE, Fortis is one of the region's biggest publicly listed companies with nearly $70 billion in assets. The company reported earnings of over $300 million in its most recent fiscal year and has provided annual returns to its shareholders of over 10% for the past twenty years.
Fortis was formed as a holding company in 1987. From its humble beginnings as St. John's Electric Light in 1885, Fortis has grown into an energy giant with nearly 10,000 employees, of which nearly 700 are with Newfoundland Power and over 200 in PEI with Maritime Electric. There are another 50 head office jobs in St. John's supporting their decentralized subsidiaries elsewhere. Hutcheons just announced a new $24 billion, five-year capital program for the company.
He talks about the need to invest in infrastructure to address climate change and the company's growth goals going forward. This is a great Atlantic Canadian success story that relatively few in the region will be aware of both the size and scope of operations of Fortis.
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On this episode of the Insights Podcast, we talk with veteran political reporter Stephen Maher, who has just written a book called “The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau”. The book was well researched and provides a balanced look at Trudeau’s time as Prime Minister. It is a book that would be of interest to those who follow politics. Maher gives credit to the Trudeau Government’s for its handling of the pandemic, efforts to reconcile with Indigenous communities, and protecting the environment. He is more critical of Trudeau for his handling of the economy and the country’s fiscal situation. The podcast also takes the opportunity to discuss the state of journalism in the country, with a specific emphasis of the challenges facing the newspaper industry
- Visa fler
