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.

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.

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.