Kent Building Supplies is the Largest Building Supply Company in Atlantic Canada.
Insights with Don Mills and David Campbell- An Acadia Broadcasting PodcastShow Notes
Our Insights Podcast this week features a conversation with Rannie MacDonald, the VP of JD Irving's Retail Division and Patrick O'Neil, the General Manager of Kent Building Supplies that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Since its founding in Bouctouche (Kent County), Kent has become the market leader in the region in building supplies. Most Atlantic Canadians have shopped at a Kent's at one time or the other. The company has 48 retail outlets ranging in size from its large big box stores of up to 125,000 square feet to its smaller 24,000 square foot sized traditional stores located in smaller communities. Kent has become one of the region's largest private sector employers, with 3,700 full-time employees generating more than $200 million in wages that are mostly spent in the region. It supports nearly 1,400 vendors in the region, spending $300 million a year on local goods and services. It has a major 560,000 square foot distribution centre in Moncton with over 25,000 product skus and sources the vast majority of its products from Canadian manufacturers. Indeed, only 10 percent of their products come from US suppliers. It has spun off Atlas Structural Systems that now has 11 locations and an incremental 600 employees, as well as Industrial Commercial Supplies with another 100 employees. It is proudly an Atlantic Canadian success story and one that you will enjoy learning more about.
More from Insights with Don Mills and David Campbell- An Acadia Broadcasting Podcast
This week on the Insights podcast, Don and David speak with Michael Brown, author of Back to Prosperity: Awakening Canada’s Next Industrial Giant. Michael was born in the Sussex area but moved away to pursue a career in finance. He came back to put what he has learned to work in Atlantic Canada. He is a prominent tech investor and advocate, and his new book outlines an optimistic vision for innovation-led economic growth across the region. Michael makes the case that Atlantic Canada was once "one of the world's most prosperous and consequential regions" and could be again. His prescription includes shifting the focus from tangible to intangible value creation through scientific discovery and seeing data as the new natural resource. We talk about the innovation ecosystem and the role of government to animate this new prosperous future. You can find his book through online booksellers or by visiting www.tlt.capital.
This is rebroadcast of a previous episode. This week's Insights Podcast focuses on a recent report prepared by David Campbell for the Public Policy Forum called "Help Wanted: Solving Atlantic Canada’s Growing Labour Challenge". David is a Fellow with the Public Policy Forum as well as the co-host of the Insights Podcast. In our conversation, he notes that Atlantic Canada will need more than 440,000 new workers by 2035 to replace those retiring and fill new jobs created by economic growth. He points out that 20% of today's workforce in the region are 55 years old or more and will most likely be out of the workforce by 2035. More critically, due to low birth rates and an older population, Atlantic Canada does not have the capacity to produce the workers needed for the future. In fact, the shortfall is nearly 270,000 workers that will have to be attracted to the region from elsewhere. It is a crisis that is already evident. We talk about what needs to happen to address this growing problem.
On this week’s Insights podcast, Don and David speak with Paul Bennett, author of a provocative new book Struggling in Class: A Report Card on Education in New Brunswick. Bennett believes the K-12 school system is in a protracted crisis and failing the current generation of students. He points to the latest PISA scores which place New Brunswick last among the 10 provinces. The book covers a wide range of issues from inclusive education and French Immersion to the growing disparity in rural education outcomes. The Insights podcast is focused on economic development and fostering greater prosperity in our region. The ability of our K-12 education system to turn out graduates that are ready for the modern, complex world is key to that future prosperity. You may not agree with all of Bennett’s conclusions and recommendations but you should listen to what he has to say.
On this week’s Insights podcast, Don talks with David about the Atlantic Economic Panel’s new report Bolder Ambitions: Greater Prosperity for All. After nearly a year of work, the panel sets out a bold agenda focused on population growth, investment attraction, improved regional trade, diversifying international exports growth and other drivers of regional prosperity. Don walks us through the findings and what comes next.
In this episode of the Insights Podcast, our guest is Ian Thompson, the author of a new book called "Nova Scotia's Lost Century: Can We Change Course". Ian has an interesting background as a journalist, entrepreneur and senior civil servant that he used to help write the book and brings a fresh perspective to the topic as a result. The book is an interesting read that chronicles the decline of Nova Scotia economic fortunes following confederation which the people of the province at the time generally resisted, led by Joe Howe. In our conversation, Thompson's talks about the basis for that resistance and what Nova Scotia was like before and after confederation. He describes the province as "have nots that wouldn't say yes", providing specific examples of that behaviour and how it has held the province back. He points out examples of success in the province that provide hope for the future and the opportunities to change the direction of the province. For those interested in a better understanding of how Nova Scotia got to its present position, we would highly recommend reading Thompson's book. In the meantime, the podcast provides a good overview of its content.