Insights with Don Mills and David Campbell- An Acadia Broadcasting Podcast

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.

On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David speak with the Honourable John Herron, Minister of Natural Resources with the Government of New Brunswick. No other province in Canada has seen a larger decrease in economic activity associated with mining in the past 30 years.  The GDP from mining has declined by more than 85 percent.  Minister Herron is on a mission to change this.  He would like to see New Brunswick become an important producer of critical minerals creating high paying jobs as well as tax and royalty revenue for government.  Don, David and Minister Herron discuss how to make New Brunswick an attractive location for mining investment, the partnership with First Nations and how to achieve community support.  For anyone interested in economic development, this is well worth an hour of your time.

It might be surprising to many that Atlantic Canada has two of only four ambulance manufacturers in Canada. One is Dieppe based Malley Industries led by Terry Malley, the company's CEO and the other is Yarmouth based Tri-Star Industries, founded by Keith Condon, previous guest on the Insights Podcast. Malley operates a 92,000 square foot facility with 80 employees in Dieppe near the airport and produces 200 ambulances annually with 35 percent exported to the US, the Caribbean and Bermuda. The average cost of an ambulance for the Canadian market is between $150-160,000, with an ambulance lasting only about four years due to their high usage. The company also produces accessible vehicles through a network of dealers in Canada and the US. The company has developed a specialty in the production of thermoformed products like van liners and partitions for its vehicles which makes them safer and lighter, as well as less costly to operate. Malley talks about the challenges of operating a manufacturing business in Atlantic Canada and his plans for the future of his business. Malley is a well-known community leader in the Greater Moncton area and has served on ten different boards.

The QEII Foundation is in the midst of a major $100 million capital campaign under the theme of "We Are". The campaign is being led by Sherry Porter, our guest on this episode of the Insights Podcast, is a long-time board member of the Foundation and an accomplished business leader. She continues to be active as a board member, including serving on the board of Organigram, Canada's largest cannabis company and a previous guest on the Insights Podcast. Porter has been active as a community builder for a long time and was instrumental, alongside Ruth Goldbloom, in the establishment of Pier 21 and it being designated as Canada's National Museum for Immigration. Her community building efforts led to her receiving an Order of Canada in 2018. The QEII's daunting capital is the largest ever for a healthcare facility in Atlantic Canada and has already raised 80% of its goal and that money is already hard at work enhancing healthcare delivery in Nova Scotia through the acquisition of surgical robotics and precision oncology innovations like gene sequencing technology to tailor treatments to individuals with cancer. In this podcast, Porter takes us through the stages of managing such a major campaign and tells us why campaigns such as the "We Care" campaign are important.

Many people would be familiar with the ChatGPT app as a tool for research purposes and composition. But the use of artificial intelligence is much more complicated and sophisticated than that. For example, do you know the difference between predictive AI and generative AI? On this week's Insights Podcast, our guest, Jennifer LaPlante who is the Chief Growth and Innovation Officer for Canada's Ocean Supercluster provides a useful tutorial into understanding what AI all about and how it is currently being used in the region as well as the potential use of AI moving forward. LaPlante has responsibility for helping grow the ocean sector which currently accounts for about $40 billion in GDP contribution supporting overall 400,000 jobs across Canada, but with the Ocean Supercluster's Ambition 2035, the goal is to grow that contribution to $220 billion by 2035 and the use of AI is part of that strategy. LaPlante estimates that about 40% of businesses are currently using AI in one form or another. Any business with data can benefit from the use of AI according to LaPlante and she outlines how businesses can get started using AI in our conversation with her. This podcast will be of value to all those seeking a better understanding of AI, especially in their own business.

If Nova Scotia wasn't already considered one of the most difficult jurisdictions to conduct business in the mining sector, the province's reputation will not be improved by Australian based mining company, St. Barbara Limited's recent decision to liquidate its holdings in Nova Scotia. The company has planned projects at Fifteen Mile Stream, Cochrane Hill and Beaver Dam. In this week's Insights Podcast with Andrew Strelein, the company's Managing Director & CEO, he clearly points a finger at the regulatory process in Nova Scotia. St. Barbara purchased Atlantic Gold in 2019 for $772 million and had to take a major write down on its investment due to prolonged details in permitting to allow the company to recoup its investment. Our conversation is wide ranging and includes a discussion about the requirements placed on a mining company to ensure that the funds are available to reclaim land from a completed mining project, as the company is currently doing at its Touquoy Property 80 kms northeast of Halifax. Premier Houston's recent "open for business" announcement regarding the development of our natural resources will require a closer look at current timelines for permitting and transparency associated with the permitting process, as well as the need for more internal expertise with the Department of Environment & Climate Change to conduct fair assessments of mining projects. It is noteworthy that Strelein was quick to point out that the regulatory legislation was not the problem, just the implementation of that legislation.This is an excellent primer about mining for those interested in learning more about this sector.

It may surprise many that Tri-Star Industries, founded by Keith Condon in 1973, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia have sold their customized ambulances to 46 foreign companies. Tri-Star has also supplied all the ambulances in Nova Scotia under a lease arrangement. The company has also sold ambulances to seven other provinces, just recently signing an agreement with Newfoundland & Labrador. Keith sold his interest in his company ten years ago to his senior management team, but remains active in the company in business development, now responsible for Central and South America with an office in Panama. During his career, he learned how to be able to sell in foreign countries, in the process meeting the royal family in Monaco, the King of Jordan, Saddam Hussein and even Fidel Castro. The secret to the long running success of the company is its ability to customize the vehicles built for their clients, which can cost up to $275,000 each. The company employs 85-90 people at its 55,000 sq ft facility, making it the largest private sector employer in the town. The company has been increasing the use of automation in its production processes to remain competitive. Tri-Star Industries is yet another Atlantic Canadian example of the region's ability to manufacture and compete in global markets, even from smaller rural communities.

On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David are talking trade and tariffs with Dr. Herb Emery from the University of New Brunswick.  What will be the impacts specifically in our region?  How many jobs are at risk? What industries?  We spent a lot of time talking about solutions ranging from developing new foreign export markets to strengthening interprovincial trade and developing our natural resources.  Emery points to lessons from the past and highlights the fact that many of our economic challenges as a country pre-date President Trump.   In the end, Don makes a strong case that Canada has the potential to come out of this stronger than ever.