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

On today's Insights podcast, Don and David talk with well-known author and Globe and Mail journalist John Ibbitson.   The wide-ranging discussion covers his two recent books, as well as his thoughts on everything from demographic trends and interprovincial trade.  In The Duel: Diefenbaker, Pearson and the Making of Modern Canada, he makes a compelling case that Diefenbaker should rank higher on th...

Monette Pasher, President of the Canadian Airports Council, joins Don and David on the Insights podcast this week to talk about the council’s new report called “Keeping Canada Connected: The Challenge of Regional Air Service and Federal Policy”.  The transfer of airport management in Canada from the federal government to local authorities in the 1990s is considered by many to be an excellent examp...

We spent the month of June on a tour around the region to promote our newly published book, "Toward Prosperity: The Transformation of Atlantic Canada's Economy." The reception has been very gratifying, and the early reviews have been very favourable. Among those stops was the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, where their high-energy CEO, Kim Wilson, moderated a lively discussion about the b...

This week's Insights Podcast is the second of three in our special series on the bioeconomy sponsored by the Greenspring Bioinnovation Lab and BioIndustrial Innovation Canada and features a very interesting conversation with Greg Wanger, the Founder & CEO of Oberland Agriscience. Oberland has a brand new 100,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Ragged Lake that is nearing completion that...

On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David speak with Dr. Trevor Tombe, Professor in the University of Calgary’s Department of Economics and Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy at the School of Public Policy.  Dr. Tombe has published a number of papers related to interprovincial trade barriers including a recent one for the Public Policy Forum specifically covering the benefits to Atlantic...

This episode of the Insights Podcast was live recorded at the recent Biocon Conference held in Saint John, New Brunswick. This was the thirteenth annual conference for this sector. The podcast features a conversation with David and Don that was moderated by Meaghan Seagrave, the Executive Director of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, an organization that provides critical strategic investment, advi...

Dennis Campbell, the Founder of Ambassatours, first became interested in the tour business at the age of seven years ago when he accompanied one of his sister's guided tours and started his company in 1987 while still in high school. At its peak, the company had annual revenues of $30 million and employed nearly eight hundred people,100 buses and served 19-21 ports. Last year the company had 450,0...

This week's Insights Podcast is the first in our sponsored BioEconomy Series over the next three months in partnership with the Greenspring BioInnovation Hub and Bioindustrial Innovation Canada and features a conversation with JC Amado, Chief Development Officer with Vyterra Renewals and Cassie Turple, member of the third generation of family owners of Ledwidge Lumber about their interesting colla...

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...

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 mo...

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 S...

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...

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...

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 pr...

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 cannabi...

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 Ocea...

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 Pod...

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 h...

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 r...

 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 Regul...

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...

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 co...

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...

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...

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...