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

In the first of a two-part interview, longtime CTV broadcaster Steve Murphy relinquishes his role as an interviewer and becomes the interviewee, as co-hosts Don Mills and David Campbell quiz him about his 45-year career, including the most significant events he has covered, his assessment of the most consequential premiers, most interesting interviews and how Atlantic Canada has changed over his the course of four decades in the business.

BioVectra plans to build a facility on Prince Edward Island that will eventually manufacture enough doses of mRNA vaccines to supply all of Canada, which is big news for Canadians as well as Atlantic Canadians. The recent announcement shines a light on a 50-year old company that employs more than 550 people in P.E.I. and Nova Scotia."There are 35 million-plus Canadians. We could probably within a year single-handedly make sure the demand for Canada has been taken care of if we were the ones to produce the vaccine in the future," says company CEO Oliver Technow.On this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Technow speaks with co-host Don Mills about the origins of the company and the original vision of its founder Regis Duffy, and how the company has grown over the decades to its present capabilities.

Envision, the new economic development agency for the Great Saint John Region, has just released its five strategic plan that calls for growing the population by 25,000 and the regional economy by 30-35 percent over the next 10 years. On this week's podcast, Don Mills talks with Envision CEO Paulette Hicks about the organization's aggressive growth plans and the development of a new brand for the region that will be introduced early in 2022. 

John Bragg got his entrepreneurial start as a teenager in the blueberry business. He quit law school because he decided he was meant to be a businessman, not a lawyer, and started off down a path that led to the creation of Oxford Frozen Foods and the telecommunications company Eastlink, both headquartered in Nova Scotia.Bragg is one of the Maritimes business titans that have inspired books by Donald Savoie, who joins David Campbell and Don Mills on the "Insights" podcast this week to talk about The Rural Entrepreneur: John Bragg.

If you haven’t heard of James Mullinger, it’s time to get acquainted. An immigrant from the UK who recently became a Canadian citizen, he is now a central figure in Atlantic Canadian cultural and media circles. James is a comedian, magazine editor, author, podcaster and, most of all, entrepreneur. He joins Don Mills and David Campbell to talk about his journey and how he became an accidental champion for Atlantic Canada.  

35 podcasts. That's roughly 35 hours of conversations with business and thoughts leaders about Atlantic Canada's economic success stories and the challenges and opportunities ahead for the region.On this episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell chat with Huddle editor Mark Leger about the people they've spoken to (a group that includes former Newfoundland finance minister Cathy Bennett, JDI co-CEO Jim Irving and Frank McKenna) and the issues they've discussed (from labour force development to immigration to energy development and innovation).

There are relatively few publicly held companies based in Atlantic Canada. In recent years, the region’s high-flying technology companies have typically grown to a point and then sold to a national or international firm. The region is also known for its intergenerational family-owned businesses. Should more firms look at listing on the public stock markets such as the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)?On the week's episode of the "Insights" podcast, Denis Larocque, President and CEO of Major Drilling and Andrew McLaughlin, the company’s VP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, weigh in on the pros and cons of being a publicly-traded company. Moncton-based Major Drilling, one of the province’s few publicly traded firms, has used its ability to raise capital to become one of the world's largest drilling services companies. McLaughlin has written a persuasive report outlining the benefits and believes more publicly held companies would be good for the economy, which Huddle will be publishing later this week. He says New Brunswick has a lot of large family-owned businesses and a strong ecosystem of smaller businesses. "What seems to be missing is that middle layer that can expand into titan status. I'm talking about companies with $200-million in revenue that can grow up to the $1-billion mark," McLaughlin tells "Insights" co-host David Campbell. "It's this layer of companies that are the drivers of wealth creation and economic dynamism in other provinces. It's this realm where public companies can play a particularly prominent role."

This episode takes a close look at the challenges of fulfilling the promise of delivering high-speed internet to 100 percent of households in Atlantic Canada. News flash, it is not likely going to happen, at least using fibre lines to deliver the service. Our conversation with Lee Bragg of Halifax-based Eastlink provides a much clearer understanding of the challenges for companies that must remain competitive and governments that have promised affordable high-speed internet no matter where you live.

In the latest episode of the "Insights" podcast, Don Mills and David Campbell discuss the quality of the education system in Atlantic Canada with Paul Bennett, one of Canada's leading experts on public education.

Addressing climate change is among the most important challenges facing the world today.  However, many questions remain about how it can be accomplished. How long will it take? Who will pay for the transition? What other energy sources will replace fossil fuels? What about nuclear, hydrogen and tidal energy? Neil Jacobsen from the Atlantica Centre for Energy is on the podcast this week to answer these questions.  He will also talk about the economic impact of the energy sector in Atlantic Canada and how we can continue to use energy as an economic development driver in the years ahead. If you want a primer on the energy transition from the perspective of Atlantic Canada, Jacobsen provides an ideal summary.