On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David speak with Dr. Trevor Tombe, Professor in the University of Calgary’s Department of Economics and Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy at the School of Public Policy. Dr. Tombe has published a number of papers related to interprovincial trade barriers including a recent one for the Public Policy Forum specifically covering the benefits to Atlantic Canada from making it easier to trade across provincial borders. We discuss a variety of barriers to provincial trade including rules and regulations, and we go deeper with a lively discussion of issues such as government subsidies to industry, provincial tax rate differentials, infrastructure investments and other government-related benefits that may provide advantages to industries in one province but not another. This one got a little wonky but we are sure you will enjoy the conversation.

This episode of the Insights Podcast was live recorded at the recent Biocon Conference held in Saint John, New Brunswick. This was the thirteenth annual conference for this sector. The podcast features a conversation with David and Don that was moderated by Meaghan Seagrave, the Executive Director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, an organization that provides critical strategic investment, advice and services to business developers of clean, green and sustainable technologies. There are many new companies in the bioeconomy that are leading the way, including Vyterra Renewals which was the focus of a recent podcast and Oberland Agriscience which will be a future podcast. Vyterra turns wood into fuel and Oberland turns insects into feed and fertilizer. This podcast focuses on the opportunities and challenges facing the bioeconomy sector and what needs to be done to accelerate its growth.

Dennis Campbell, the Founder of Ambassatours, first became interested in the tour business at the age of seven years ago when he accompanied one of his sister's guided tours and started his company in 1987 while still in high school. At its peak, the company had annual revenues of $30 million and employed nearly eight hundred people,100 buses and served 19-21 ports. Last year the company had 450,000 customers using the company's various land, water and amphibious tours. In this podcast, Dennis takes us on his personal business journey as he built his company, including some of the early challenges financing its growth, eventually selling off parts of his business as he begins winding down his long successful career. From the Harbour Hopper to double decker buses, the Silva, Harbour Queen, Theodore Tugboat, and the Magic Winery Tours, there is a very good chance listeners will have been on one of Dennis's tours. His role in the development of the hospitality sector within the region cannot be overstated. He is the consummate storyteller as you will see from this conversation.

This week's Insights Podcast is the first in our sponsored BioEconomy Series over the next three months in partnership with the Greenspring BioInnovation Hub and Bioindustrial Innovation Canada and features a conversation with JC Amado, Chief Development Officer with Vyterra Renewals and Cassie Turple, member of the third generation of family owners of Ledwidge Lumber about their interesting collaboration that will see the construction of a 40 million litre plant on Ledwidge's property using Vyterra's proprietary Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) technology and the wood by products from Ledwidge's operations to convert wood into low carbon fuel. The plant will cost $200 million to build and is expected to be operational by the end of 2027 and will use the feedstock of 2-3 sawmills in the province, which lost a significant customer for their products with the closure of Northern Pulp. If successful, Vyterra's has hopes of building two other similar plants in the province.

Everyone who owns a vehicle has used a parking meter, whether an old-fashioned coin operated meter or the new electronic smart meters. It is highly unlikely that you have ever heard of MacKay Meters of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, but there is a good chance that you have used one of their meters. MacKay is the only company manufacturing parking meters in Canada and has been in business for more than sixty years.

Parking meters have become increasingly sophisticated, and MacKay Meters has been among the most innovative companies in this space. The company was the first to introduce the use of credit card payment and has the best coin validation system in the industry. The modular design of their smart meters makes it easier to keep the meters current. The company has developed software support to manage and maintain their meters, including the management of time-of-day parking rates around special events. Indeed, there are some years where revenue from their hosted subscription services exceeds their hardware sales. MacKay just completed the world's largest parking project ever undertaken when it installed 13,000 of its smart meters and 3,000 of its pay stations in San Francisco. Since its inception, the company has installed over a million meters.

Our podcast with third generation CEO James MacKay provided an excellent overview of the secret to the company's success over such a long period of time and another reminder of the opportunities that exist for manufacturers in Atlantic Canada.

On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David speak with Sébastien Dupuis, President & CEO of Assumption Life. The Moncton-based insurance provider has been around for over 100 years, and recently decided to become a national company. From its roots providing insurance services to Acadian households and businesses, Assumption Life is now a rapidly expanding national firm with considerably more clients outside New Brunswick. Sébastien talks about the company’s journey expanding across the country, the business environment for the insurance sector in New Brunswick, and he muses on the importance of ambition as a driver of business growth.

By his own admission, Ron Lovett was a juvenile delinquent and a troublemaker on the wrong track in his early life but also a born entrepreneur. His first business was selling weed. He also has had to learn to deal with both ADHD and dyslexia. In his first book "Outrageous Empowerment", he outlines his management philosophy that is based on employee empowerment, a philosophy that helped him grow Source Security to one of Canada's largest security firms from Halifax with more than 1,500 full-time employees. His personal experience providing executive protection is discussed in the podcast, including an interesting experience with Ringo Starr. After growing his revenues to more than $10 million annually, he sold his business to Pavion in 2023, a large US based technology and systems integration company. After selling Source Security, Lovett started VIDA (formerly VIDA Living) and has since developed a portfolio of 190 buildings with nearly 3,000 affordable rental units employing a new model of offering quality housing at reasonable cost. Lovett is in the process of raising $300 million to grow the number of units to 10,000. His innovative approach to this sector is turning heads. This is a great story and worth a listen.

On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David speak with Sara Napier, the CEO of United Way Maritimes. United Way has been supporting the social sector in the Maritime Provinces for more than 100 years. Recently, seven local United Ways combined to create one larger organization that covers most of the Maritime Provinces (except southeastern New Brunswick and Cape Breton). Sara discusses the motivations for this amalgamation as well as some of the big issues and challenges facing the social sector across our region. We are seeing increased homelessness, crime, food insecurity and youth mental health challenges in all three provinces. The United Way is at the forefront trying to address these challenges in partnership with dozens of community partners.