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 the list of Canadian Prime Ministers. In A Nation's Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, Ibbitson curates 30 essays from Globe writers on the role the newspaper has played at important times in Canada’s history. He has a new book coming out in the Fall with Darrell Bricker called "Breaking Point: The New Big Shifts Putting Canada at Risk." Ibbitson is a fairly rare breed among national writers and commentators in that he has deep knowledge of the Atlantic Canada population and economy. We discuss immigration, Employment Insurance, trade and other topics with a focus on Atlantic Canada.

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 example of good public policy. However, over the past decade or so, there has been an increasing erosion of services and connectivity between smaller airports and their surrounding communities. The new CAC report finds that flight frequency at regional airports has decreased by 36% since 2014 – a trend exacerbated by the pandemic. Pasher believes that more of the $500 million in rent that airports pay the federal government every year should be allocated to an “Essential Air Service program”, similar to a program in the United States. We talk about a range of issues, from the rationale behind the transfer 30 years ago to the role of provincial and municipal governments in ensuring regional air connectivity.

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 book with us, covering the main themes of the book and why we are so bullish on the future of Atlantic Canada. We wanted to share that conversation with you. You can purchase the book at local bookstores, Indigo, Amazon and even Costco. Enjoy!