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

Our guest on this episode of the Insights Podcast is Jason Limongelli, Vice President, Woodlands Division with JD Irving, Limited. The forest products industry is the most important driver of economic activity in New Brunswick, generating nearly a billion dollars in tax and royalty revenue in 2024 and supporting one out of every 17 jobs in the province. Despite its importance, most people don’t really understand how it works. How many trees get cut down every year? How long does it take for a tree to reach full maturity? How many trees are planted each year? What does it mean to manage a Crown Land license? Jason answers all these questions and more. He also tells us about JDI. Known in New Brunswick as one of the largest companies in the province, it turns out the company competes with much larger global firms when selling its wood and paper products. Jason explains how JDI competes with these industrial behemoths. Finally, we chat about the future of the industry and having a +50-year business plan. 

Our guest on this episode of the Insights Podcast is Marie Mullally, the CEO of CUA. CUA is one of the largest credit unions in Atlantic Canada. There are more than 300,000 credit union members in Atlantic Canada. Credit unions have their roots in small communities. In the case of CUA, it started as a credit union for dockyard workers in Halifax, growing to $1.2 billion in assets under management and offering most, if not all, of the services of the major banks in Canada. Credit unions are cooperatives, owned by their members and serving those members as customers. Mullally provides an excellent overview of the advantages and limitations of being much smaller than banks while still offering the same suite of services. It is an interesting look at a unique segment of Canada's financial services market and is highly educational.

Our guest on this week’s episode of the Insights Podcast is Dallas McCready, President & CEO of Atlantic Lottery Corporation.  Atlantic Lottery is a collaboration between the four Atlantic Provinces that provides gaming services across the region.  Dallas discusses the organization’s mandate and economic impact as it celebrates 50 years in operation.  He also discusses the lottery’s expansion into online gaming and sports betting, and how to ensure responsible gaming is maintained in the virtual world.  

Dr. Moez Rajwani, Executive Officer of the Aga Khan Council Canada, leads community governance and settlement programs. He discusses Ismaili history and global presence. He outlines migration waves to Canada and why Atlantic Canada now attracts attention. He covers trade mission interest, investment sectors, refugee resettlement supports, and strategies to grow and retain Ismaili families in the region.

This episode of the Insights Podcast is another in our bioeconomy series, sponsored by the Greenspring Bioinnovation Hub and Bioindustrial Innovation Canada, and features a conversation with Andrew Parsons, the Project Director at Nova Sustainable Fuels, a company owned by UK-based Octopus Energy. His company has been quietly working in Nova Scotia since 2021 on a project to build a production facility in Guysborough County near Goldsboro that would convert biomass, such as wood chips and sawdust, into sustainable aviation fuel (saf). It is a big idea that would require 750,000 tons of biomass to produce 165,000 tons of aviation fuel and would be a major boost to the forestry industry, which has struggled for a market for biomass since the closure of Northern Pulp, which consumed 1.3 million tons of biomass annually until its closure.The company has purchased 770 acres of land with tidal access and has already spent tens of millions of dollars developing the case for the project, and has received approval for its initial environmental review. The project will have its own renewable wind and solar energy that will be able to generate 1.1.GWs of power. The project is estimated to cost between $4 and $6 billion and will contribute $1 billion to provincial GDP annually when at full production. The European market is driving demand for sustainable aviation fuels, and it has legislation in place to ensure that 70% of aviation fuel will be from sustainable sources by 2050. This would be the first such plant in North America and one of the first in the world. The final decision is expected in 2028, with the plant completed by 2031.

Nathan Ough, President and CEO of VoltaGrid and Saint John native, outlines a bold plan to build a massive data centre with on-site power. He discusses behind-the-meter generation, natural gas and emissions controls, supply-chain and financing scale, waterless power design, and why Saint John’s port, fiber and land make it attractive for large AI infrastructure.

Former New Brunswick Premier and UNI Financial CEO Camille Thériault joins the Insights Podcast to discuss leadership, grassroots politics, and economic growth. From the 1987 Liberal sweep to transforming UNI Financial, Thériault shares lessons on succeeding in public life and the importance of investing in tourism and community development. 

In this episode of the Insights Podcast, we take a close look at the book publishing business, that continues to thrive in Atlantic Canada despite the naysayers who think book reading may be in decline. Terrilee Bulger is a lifelong bibliophile who began her interest in books working in a bookstore while in high school, before eventually joining Nimbus Publishing in 2004 eventually becoming a co-owner and the General Manager of the company with Deborah Fagan after purchasing the company from John Marshall in 2012. The company, established in 1978, is nearly its fiftieth anniversary and publishes between 35 and 45 titles annually and has published more than 2,000 books over its long history. Nimbus has been an important contributor to the culture life in the region. It also established Vagrant Press in 2005 which specializes in books of fiction. In this podcast, we learn about the process of getting a book published, the financial aspects of book publishing and how Nimbus markets the books it publishes. Nimbus also provides distribution services for a number of its competitors in Atlantic Canada. Interesting story. Enjoy!

We have a very special guest on this week's Insights podcast.  Don and David are joined by Aldéa Landry to talk about her long career and legacy.  Aldéa was born in Sainte-Cécile, a small village in the Acadian Peninsula.  She showed early flashes of ambition at a young age and the support of Sister Dorothy at the local Catholic school was key to unlocking her potential.  After a successful early career as lawyer and civil servant, she was part of Frank McKenna's Young Guns that swept into office in 1987. After holding multiple cabinet roles in that government, Aldéa went on to have a highly successful career in New Brunswick as a business owner, corporate leader, mentor and champion for Acadie and Francophone New Brunswickers.  At 80, she tells Don and David about her new five-year plan that will guide her career into the future.  Download to listen to a great conversation with one of the most important New Brunswickers of the last 50 years. 

Cherubini Metal Works was founded in 1967 by two brothers, John and Jack Cherubini, originally from Italy. The company began as an ornamental railing fabricator and was acquired in 1972 by Renato and Danilo Gasparetto, who remain the business's owners today. Over time, the company has grown to become the largest structured steel fabricator in Atlantic Canada, with 600 employees (70 percent of whom are immigrants or refugees), and a number of other businesses in its group, including Burnside Truck Repair, Classic Freight, R & D Cranes, and Progressive Cabinets. The company is one of only three bridge builders in Canada and has worked across Canada and the US, and has been involved with both the "Big Lift" MacDonald Bridge project and PEI's Confederation Bridge in Atlantic Canada.