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

The Huddle "Insights" podcast has now surpassed 25,000 downloads since it was launched a little more than a year ago. And the show's most popular episodes are with the region's successful entrepreneurs. The feature interview with J.D. Irving, Limited Co-CEO Jim Irving topped the list. He emphasized that the key to growth for companies in the region is population growth and immigration.“If people feel welcome they generally stay if there are reasonable opportunities,” says Jim. “Just like we tell the government, money goes where it’s wanted. Well, people will stay where they’re wanted," he told "Insights" hosts David Campell and Don Mills.“There are always opportunities,” says Jim. “Number one, though, we’ve got to get the population up. There are going to be limited opportunities if we have a declining population.”The interview originally aired in April of last year, but the issue and Irving's analysis still resonate today.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."After more than 50 conversations with some of Atlantic Canada’s top business and government leaders, I am more convinced than ever that the region has a bright future," says Campbell. "We have many challenges ahead of us and I look forward to shining a light on those challenges in the months ahead through the Insights podcast."Campbell says the podcast is offering a unique perspective in a fast-growing global podcast market."There are more than three million podcasts on Spotify and Apple podcasts but as far as I know only one that is going deep on the economic and demographic issues that matter to us here in Atlantic Canada. It’s worth an hour of your time each week."Search for “Huddle Insights” on podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify, and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. You can also listen to past conversations there.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

Innovacorp is the only organization of its kind in the region, perhaps the country, that combines incubation, acceleration programming and funding to the start-up community.Its one-stop approach has been proven successful, recently celebrating its first unicorn investment where its investment of $3-million in Meta Materials Inc. six years ago has returned $101-million to the crown corporation. Innovacorp operates three separate incubation facilities, the Labs, the Bays and COVE."They have utilized all of the services at Innovacorp. They've been in our incubation facility. They've used all of our acceleration programs. We invested capital in them," said CEO Malcolm Fraser. "We believe doing all of those things...provides a higher likelihood of success for these companies."In his conversation with Don Mills on the latest episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Fraser talks about the focus of Innovacorp and its success, as well as the increasing collaboration within the region with similar organizations.You can listen to the conversation with Cooper in the player above. Better yet, search for “Huddle Insights” on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.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.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

As part of their ongoing "Insights podcast series on fostering innovation in Atlantic Canada, David Campbell and Don Mills talk with Jeff White, the CEO of the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF). White talks about the importance of investing at the earliest stage in the life of an innovation-focused company.These early investments allow the firms to attract other sources of capital and ultimately scale their innovative ideas to national and international markets. White says NBIF has generated an average annual return of 6.6 percent over 18 years on the money it has invested in startup companies. Too bad they are not open to individual investors.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.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

As part of a new series of Huddle "Insights" podcasts, Don Mills and David Campbell are talking to experts to determine what we should do to foster a more innovative economy in Atlantic Canada. New research published by the OECD finds the four Atlantic Provinces invest far less than the OECD average in research and development as a share of GDP.What would it take to encourage businesses to invest more into innovation? How can we better leverage public research and development expenditures to create stronger provincial economies?What is the role of entrepreneurship and innovative start-up companies? This is where we start the series by talking to Matt Cooper, Chief Innovation Officer at Volta in Halifax. Cooper goes deep into how Volta is supporting tech-based entrepreneurship in Atlantic Canada and helping nurture new companies with great ideas.From recruitment support to preparing a compelling business plan for investors, Volta and other incubators around New Brunswick have an important role to play.You can listen to the conversation with Cooper in the player above. Better yet, search for “Huddle Insights” on a podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Follow the show and never miss an episode. You can also listen to past episodes on those platforms.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.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca/atlantic-canada-is-home/

CEO Wendy Luther joins Don Mills and David Campbell to discuss Halifax Partnership's new five-year strategy, which focuses on three themes: People, Planet and Prosperity.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

In this episode of the Huddle "Insights" podcast, Premier Andrew Furey provides a thoughtful overview of the demographic and fiscal challenges faced by Newfoundland and Labrador, the need to diversify the province's economy, and the near term opportunities for the province's oil industry which represents 25 per cent of its GDP in the wake of the war in Ukraine.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.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

Premier Tim Houston of Nova Scotia wants to be remembered for setting the stage for growth when people look back on his government's achievements decades from now. Population growth is a top priority along with improving access to healthcare, he tells Don Mills and David Campbell on the latest Huddle "Insights" podcast."People drive economies so we need people," says Houston of his ambitious goal to grow the population to two million by 2060. "We know the flip side of that from depopulation. We know what happens when communities lose people. Schools close, stores close, and then you get caught in that negative3 vortex because it's oftentimes it's those that remain are aging. The cycle goes on and on.""The cycle is being broken; the population is turning around. People are realizing what we already know, and that's the quality of life here, where you're never far from a city and you're never far from a beach. You can have everything you want in between, so we have a lot to offer people."In his chat with Mills and Campbell, Houston also says improving access to quality healthcare is his other main priority.This is the third of our exclusive series of "Insights" interviews with Atlantic Canada’s premiers; on the last episode Mills and Campbell spoke with New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

This is the second of our exclusive Insights interviews with Atlantic Canada’s premiers. New Brunswick weathered the pandemic better than most jurisdictions in the areas of public health, economic growth, population growth and government finances. Premier Blaine Higgs discusses a wide variety of topics from how his government tackled the pandemic to economic development, municipal reform, bilingualism and the new health care strategy.Higgs says the province is emerging strongly from the pandemic, both in the eyes of people who already live here and those looking to move here from somewhere else."It caused people to look within and see what a great province we have," he says."As a province, I've always felt it was a belief in one's self-worth - not, we can't do that in New Brunswick, but yes we can...then you see people looking at us for the first time and started to call and buy houses virtually."This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

In this episode, Don Mills and David Campbell start a series of conversations with the Premiers of Atlantic Canada, beginning with Dennis King of P.E.I.Progressive Conservative Premier King is an unconventional poilitical leader in these highly partisan times. He is a collaborator - a friendly, affable and self-effacing person who gives credit to and works well with others, including opposition parties and former premiers from other parties.A noteworthy example would be former Liberal premier Wade MacLauchlan. King credits him with creating the right policies and setting the right tone for immigration, which has helped P.E.I. outpace the country in attracting newcomers to the province. King says it's important to make it easier for people to settle down there."Anybody who moves here, whether you're a refugee or an immigrant, or whether you're relocating back from Calgary after having lived there for 20 years, you want a place to live, a place to thrive, a place for your family to be safe, and you want those comforts of home," says King.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.

Don Mills and David Campbell chat with Bernard Leblanc, the CEO of the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport, about the impact of the pandemic and the efforts underway to rebuild its routes and increase cargo traffic. They also discuss how important the decision to move to a community-based airport authority was to improve infrastructure and service in air transportation across Canada.When the airport released its last economic impact study in 2016, it showed the Moncton airport was a significant economic driver, employing about 500 people full-time and generating around $665-million in economic activity."There's a huge benefit in having an airport and that's why no region or municipality wants to give up their airport," said LeBlanc.This episode of Insights is brought to you by MNP Digital – a firm that guides, protects, and empowers organizations along their digital journey. See how at mnpdigital.ca.