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

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.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.

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.