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!