Episodes
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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At the recent 2025 Seafarmers Conference sponsored by the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, Don Mills and Bill Lahey, the President of King's College were the kick-off panel keynote speakers focused on the challenges and opportunities facing the sector. Jeff Bishop, the Executive Director for AANS was the guest host for this live recorded podcast. Bill was one of the co-authors "A New Regulatory Framework for Low Impact/High Value Aquaculture in Nova Scotia Report" which tackled one of the biggest challenges in the sector and provided practical recommendations to streamline and improve regulatory transparency. Our podcast with Glenn Cooke previously underscored the challenges of doing business in Nova Scotia in the aquaculture industry. We discussed the current state of the regulatory process and what the industry needed to do to increase public support for this sector. This is yet another example of the challenges faced in developing our natural resources across Atlantic Canada.
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Our guest on this episode of the Insights Podcast is Patrick Sullivan, the CEO of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. The Halifax Chamber has nearly 2,000 members who employ 90,000 workers in the Greater Halifax Area. The Chamber is focussed on advocacy for its members with the three levels of government, providing a strong and independent voice for the business community. Its current key priorities are affordability (including tax reform), labour and infrastructure. Last year, the Chamber conducted more than a hundred events for its members, including its recent Annual Business Awards Gala, celebrating business excellence. The Chamber also offers educational programs and affinity services for its members including affordable group health benefits and insurance services. The vast majority of the Chamber's members are small business owners with less than 20 employees.
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Our guest on this episode of the Insights Podcast is Carrie Cussons, the CEO of Events East, the special purpose government agency partnership between the Province of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Regional Municipality responsible for managing both the Halifax Convention Centre and Scotiabank Centre. There was considerable early criticism about the decision to build the new convention centre. The convention centre opened in December 2017 and, despite operating during a period that included Covid, has proven the critics wrong, attracting 3.3 million attendees at its facilities and generating economic benefits of between $100 and $125 million annually to the economy in Nova Scotia.
The new convention centre is three times larger than the previous facility with 120,000 sq ft of available space. It can accommodate conferences for 3,000 people and multiple events at a time. Before the new convention centre, between 4-5 national and international conferences were attracted to the city. In the coming year, 46 such events are scheduled. This underscores the importance of investment in public infrastructure like convention centres to stimulate economic activity and be a catalyst for development in the downtown core, as has happened in Halifax.
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On this episode of the Insights Podcast, our guest is Greg Simpson, the President & CEO of Liverpool, NS-based Mersey Seafoods, a company most would know very little about. Mersey Seafoods was founded in 1964 by a dentist, Dr. Bill Murphy and a group of like-minded businesspeople. It was started to replace a fish plant that had been destroyed by fire and has since become one of Atlantic Canada's largest privately owned seafood companies. The family continues to be privately held by the Murphy family. The company has 700 employees and its own fishing fleet, and one of its ships can catch up to 10 million shrimp in a day. The company recently acquired additional scallop quota, raising its share of the quota to 13 percent. The company is becoming vertically integrated with its own processing facilities, retail and wholesale operations. The company recently acquired the well-known Fisherman's Market and has plans to expand that business. They recently acquired the Shelburne Ship Repair facility, driving growth on the marine repair side of the business. It is a remarkable business success story that few will be aware of.
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New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt joined Don and David on the Insights podcast this week. She is the province’s 35th premier and, while only been on the job for three months, is already facing an unexpected challenge, the threat of a prolonged trade war with the United States. We talk about a wide range of issues from health care to immigration and long term economic development. One interesting topic discussed is her focus on empowering the Cabinet. Increasingly in New Brunswick and across Canada, decision making has been more and more centered in the Premier’s/Prime Minister’s Office. It looks like Premier Holt wants to let her Ministers play a more important role. For almost 20 years we have been talking about developing an electronic health record system for all New Brunswickers. She seems convinced her government will finally get it done. Municipal tax reform, housing and energy development are also covered in this conversation. Well worth an hour of your time.
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Vision 2025 was an event held last week at the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub focussed on the growing opportunities for the life sciences and bio-science sector in Nova Scotia and featured presentations from four companies in this space including Oberland Agriscience and 3DBioFibR. The event was co-sponsored by GreenSpring BioInnovation Hub, IGNITE Atlantic and Life Sciences Nova Scotia. David and Don were the keynote speakers at the event and recorded a live podcast with Doug Jones, the Founder and CEO of Ignite as the guest host for the podcast, where they discussed the opportunities and challenges associated with growing this segment of the economy.
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There is a good chance that you have not heard about Don MacDougall, but he is the person most credited by many for Toronto's Major League Baseball's franchise while he was the President of Labatt's Breweries, where he led the company from third place in market share to first place. He was also closely involved with the establishment of the Montreal Grand Prix and the Labatt Brier. He has been a serial entrepreneur including being the owner of Novatronics, a company with some involvement in the development of the Canadarm. He recently returned to his home province of PEI where he purchased the Mill River Resort and Eagles Glenn near Cavendish. He led the transformation of Slemon Park in Summerside after the closure of its military base to a thriving business park with more than $400 million in exports. He is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and the PEI Business Hall of Fame. He is also a past Chancellor of UPEI where their School of Business is named after him. It is an amazing story of business success and community involvement.
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The Bertossi Group of restaurants is the largest privately owned group of fine dining restaurants east of Montreal. Stephanie and Maurizio Bertossi opened their first restaurant , the Perla in the 1980s. Few who live in or have visited Halifax have not dined at one of their well-known restaurants that have been around for decades, including the Bicycle Thief, Ristorante a Mano, La Frasca and il Mercato Trattoria.The Group is owned by Hakan Uluer, a personable and ambitious immigrant originally from Istanbul. Uluer began as a dishwasher in his native Turkey before ending up in Halifax with his Nova Scotian born wife and working with the Bertossi where he eventually became first a partner and finally the owner.
The secret of the Bertossi Group's longevity and success is attention to detail and consistency in service delivery, dining experience and food quality. Uluer recently opened two new restaurants on the Halifax waterfront, Water Pool and Matadoras, and now employs over 750 people with an expectation of growing that number to 1,000 by the end of 2025. It is a true entrepreneurial story.
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On this week’s Insights, Don and David talk with Heidi Leslie, founder & CEO of Halifax-based Crux Energy Consulting to discuss the energy sector in Atlantic Canada. We talk about artificial intelligence and cloud computing and the demand for data centres and whether this is an opportunity for Atlantic Canada. We discuss the Newfoundland-Quebec electricity deal and other energy generation projects announced in 2024. Leslie also weighs in on natural gas and makes a strong case that the region will be using natural gas for decades to come. If you want to know her view on green hydrogen, nuclear energy, what we are going to pay for electricity and other energy-related topics, click on the link or download wherever you get your podcasts.
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