In this episode of the Insights Podcast, we focus on Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy and the impact of that strategy on Atlantic Canada. Building ships for the navy is a complex and complicated endeavour and there is probably no other group than the Irvings that were capable of competing and winning a national bid to build those ships in Halifax. Irving Shipbuilding has 2,400 people working to complete the Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) portion of their contract and is readying to begin to build the combatant "River Class" ships. They have developed a skilled and capable workforce and provided Canada with a sovereign ability to build its own military ships. The company has already spent more than $500 million in the region since the beginning of the AOPS program and contracts with more than 130 companies across the region. In our conversation with their CEO, Dirk Lesko, a veteran shipbuilder, he talks about the further investments needed to prepare for the combatant program, his pride in his leadership group and labour force and how the current shipbuilding facilities compare globally. It is a big deal for our region and well worth a listen.

This episode of the Insights Podcast features a very interesting conversation with Mike Fenton, the CEO of ACG Toronto (Association for Corporate Growth), an organization that brings deal makers together to help them achieve their business and professional goals. ACG was founded in1954 and promotes itself as the premier M&A making community with more than 100,000 members in 61 markets. Atlantic Canada has caught the attention of ACG who will be hosting its third Atlantic Network Conference on September 18th focusing on the growing investment opportunities within the region. More than 200 investors are expected to attend this year's conference including the Northeast US and Central Canada. Mike provides a great overview of the work of ACG and why Atlantic Canada is becoming increasingly of interest to those outside the region as an investment opportunity. It reinforces our opinion that our economy is in transition, and it posed for transformational economic change. Attracting outside capital interest confirms that belief.

Our latest Insights Podcast features a conversation with Peter MacAskill, the CEO of Invest Nova Scotia. Invest Nova Scotia is the new provincial agency that emerged from the merger of Innovacorp and Nova Scotia Business Inc. Our conversation focuses on a number of Invest Nova Scotia's principal activities, including its Start-Up Investment Fund, a venture fund with investments of $65 million to date and $100 million available for new opportunities. Invest NS is focused on the clean tech, ocean tech, ag tech, life sciences and IT sectors. We also discuss its Innovation Rebate Program for capital investments to improve productivity, a fund to provide a 25% contribution up to a $15 million capital investment, and its accelerator programs and incubation services. Invest Nova Scotia is working closely with Dal's Creative destruction Labs and COVE, both previous guests on the podcast.

In Part II of our Insights Podcast with Scott McCain, the Chair of the Board of McCain Foods, we focus on his own businesses including his ownership of the Saint John Sea Dogs, a twenty-year labour of love, and his involvement in Seafort Capital as one of the founding shareholders. We also talk about his volunteer interests, including his work with the Fraser Institute as one of its Atlantic Ambassadors. It is an interesting conversation.

Our guest this week on the Insights Podcast is the affable Scott McCain, the Chair of the Board of McCain Foods, the largest potato processing company in the world. This is first part of a two-part podcast which focuses on the McCain story, how it started in rural New Brunswick and grew internationally to have 60 production facilities and have its products in 160 countries. It all started in the late 1950s with Harrison and Wallace (Scott's father) McCain and their two other brothers in Florenceville, New Brunswick. The company now has 23,000 employees worldwide, of which 1,600 continue to work in New Brunswick, including nearly 500 head office jobs. The company is the largest employer in both Florenceville and Grand Falls. Scott talks about the company's growth strategies over the years, the expansion of its product lines and some of the challenges of running a large global business. This is a rare conversation with a member of the McCain family that you won't want to miss. Next week, the podcast will focus on Scott McCain's personal business and community interest, including his ownership of the Saint John Sea Dogs, another equally interesting conversation.

On the Insights podcast this week, Don and David talk with Ryan Albright, Founder and CEO of the Covered Bridge Potato Chip Company. After a tragic fire in March 2024, the company is rebuilding bigger and better. In Hartland, New Brunswick, Albright has built the largest russet potato-based chip manufacturing company in North America and is exporting product around the world. He has dreams of building an even larger potato chip empire reminding us of a young Wallace McCain or Glenn Cooke. You will be inspired by this story of grit, leadership and entrepreneurial ambition.

Fred Bergman, Senior Policy Analyst at the Atlantic Economic Council joins us today on the Insights podcast to talk about an important new report written by the organization. The report provides an assessment of the economic impacts of Indigenous communities and businesses across Atlantic Canada. The Indigenous economy is worth $6.2 billion to the region and supports some 89,000 jobs across the four provinces . Fred provides a good overview of the economy and workforce and weighs in on some of the challenges and opportunities facing the community in the years ahead.

Travis McDonough may not be widely known in Atlantic Canada but he is very well known by the MLB, NBA, CFL, MLS, NHL and NFL and many of their leading star players. Travis and his partners developed Halifax-based Kinduct, a tech application that uses personal data to help monitor and improve the performance of professional athletes, including the best way to rehab injured players. Prior to Kinduct, he built a string of multidisciplinary health clinics and fitness centres, including one of Europe's largest custom orthotics suppliers, during a decade living in Ireland. When he sold his clinics and returned to Halifax, he used his expertise as a licensed chiropractor to develop the app for athletes. Kinduct was sold in 2020 for more than $70 million reportedly to mCube (now Movella) a Silicon company. He is now in a new tech start-up, based also in Halifax, called Wellnify that is focussed on improving community health using gamification. In this interesting podcast, he also talks about overcoming his learning difficulties growing up. His story will be an inspiration to others looking to grow businesses from Atlantic Canada.