But there were two interesting standouts that played supporting roles at the conference, which was held in Halifax on May 30: the region’s start-ups and its universities.

The final conference in the 4Front series wrapped up with the 250 delegates taking pledges on what they would do to improve the region’s economic morass. These included such promises as hiring students and immigrants and exporting more.

The discussion was framed against Barton’s keynote address, which delved into revolutionary changes in Asia, where he lived for more than a decade. Led by emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere, the global economy in the next 20 years will undergo a transformation that, says Barton, will make the industrial revolution look like “a speed bump.”

Barton unveiled a string of astonishing statistics, such as that 200,000 Chinese are moving from the country to cities each week and that Chinese consumption will reach $22 trillion by 2025. As a Canadian, Barton is discouraged that so many Canadians fail to recognize the economic opportunities posed by the Asian economic miracle.

Barton included Atlantic Canadians in that criticism. He mentioned in his morning speech that Atlantic universities now host just over 6,000 international students, and that that number is too small given that three million qualified people in China want to come to Canada to study. He seemed to ruminate on that figure throughout the day, returning to it during the closing session. “I’m a big fan of getting more students to come here, and I’d like to see more than 10,000 [foreign] students here,” he said. “I think it would really raise the Atlantic Canada brand. Ten thousand is miniscule number. I’m going to double it. I want to move the dial.”

As a group of participants pledged what they would do to help Atlantic Canada, Barton pledged to do whatever he could to work with the region’s universities to increase the attraction of overseas students.

Universities were highlighted throughout the day, mainly because they attract badly needed immigrants, train talented people and are centres of innovation – meeting several of the critical shortfalls in the region.
The breath of fresh air in the room was the number of young people, especially the founders of start-ups. “You see nothing but energy, enthusiasm, can-do attitude, [and a willingness to] take on the world,” said Clearwater Seafoods founder John Risley of this valued group. “And that’s what we have to see throughout the community.”

New Brunswick investor Gerry Pond told the audience that he hoped the region would develop a unified ecosystem for start-ups, something he has been working toward for years. Risley paid homage to those efforts when he said, “What Gerry Pond is doing in New Brunswick is fantastic because it's not about dispensing a bunch of paycheques. It’s about dispensing advice and leadership.”

The conference also focused on what individuals and corporations can do to improve the economy, and there was scant discussion the role of government—especially in such intractable problems as reducing public debt, lowering taxes, and improving public education.

One of the few speakers to mention government costs was Ian Thompson, the associate publisher of The Chronicle Herald and the former deputy minister of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism in Nova Scotia, who called for more efficient public programs. “Is it not possible to find more ways of delivering better education to more kids at less cost?” he asked.