May 15, 2006
Our man in Canada | What serving on the board of a Canadian chamber of commerce has taught John Daniels about cross-border economic development
By Whit Richardson
If you fly from Millinocket to Fredericton, New Brunswick, chances are you'd never notice when you crossed the U.S.-Canada border. This bird's-eye view of Maine and the eastern Canadian provinces as one contiguous region, regardless of boundaries, is one that Jonathan Daniels, CEO of Bangor-based Eastern Maine Development Corp., wishes more people would take to heart.
It's also a perspective that Daniels is in a unique position to hold. Last June, Daniels was named second vice chair of the board of directors of the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce, a Canadian organization that represents approximately 12,500 businesses in the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. A few years ago, hoping to encourage a regional approach to economic development, APCC sought an American presence on its board of directors. EMDC joined the Canadian organization in January 2004 and Daniels, who had just taken over as CEO there, took a seat on APCC's board. "It's been a learning experience over the last two and a half years," Daniels says. "I felt going in there that I knew a lot about the Canadian economy, the politics, the history, the culture. What I found out is that I understood very little of what they have going on."
An American on the board of a Canadian chamber of commerce was unique enough, but Daniels' recent election to the organization's executive committee puts him in line to take over as president in 2007. (Each president serves a one-year term, and Daniels' term is expected to begin next June.) Through that position, Daniels hopes to continue spreading a concept of economic cooperation that calls the northeast United States and eastern Canada the "Atlantica" region. It's a concept that attempts to look beyond international and interstate borders and use the individual qualities of cities and towns to strengthen the economy of the entire the region. "I think we've been so engrossed in marketing our own areas ˆ for instance Maine, or eastern Maine, or southern Maine ˆ that we tend to internalize everything and lose sight of the fact that there are resources outside our immediate vicinity," Daniels says.
Part of promoting that concept is encouraging regional dialogue and cooperation. In June, APCC is hosting the Reaching Atlantica conference in St. John, New Brunswick, to bring economic development professionals and business leaders from across Atlantica together to discuss how to work cooperatively towards economic development. Mainebiz recently spoke with Daniels to discuss his role at APCC, the Atlantica concept and the upcoming conference. An edited transcript follows.
Mainebiz: First of all, how did a Maine resident become vice chair of a Canadian chamber of commerce?
Daniels: That's a very good question. Maine and the eastern Canadian provinces have had a traditional business, cultural, historical relationship for as far back as we can remember. The Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce, or APCC, recognized a couple of years ago they wanted to further enhance that relationship. So they felt it would be important to bring an American perspective, or New England perspective, to their board of directors. I just happened to be the one standing in the way at the time.
Was Eastern Maine Development Corp. the first non-Canadian organization to join APCC?
Yes. There are now four members: EMDC, the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, the Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce and Bangor International Airport.
What is Maine's role in Atlantica?
When you look at the Atlantica region and you look at the states that are on board ˆ Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, upstate New York and the four eastern Canadian provinces ˆ Maine's really the largest player in terms of population. And the corridor between Bangor and St. John happens to sit right in the middle of the larger Atlantica region. So, strategically, [APCC] realized the importance of Maine not only economically, but also geographically.
How long has the concept been around?
The Atlantica concept has been around for a long time. It's been very active over the last decade or so, in looking at ourselves not just internally, but looking at the external factors, understanding that we needed to get beyond our local boundaries and be able to market the region as a whole. Other areas of the United States are doing this: The Charlotte region [in North Carolina] markets itself as being within 500 miles of half the U.S. population. Well, in order for us to be able to compete internationally, we needed to look at ourselves not only as Maine, or not only as New Brunswick, but look at ourselves as the larger region.
Maine and New Brunswick aren't really considered economic powerhouses. So why do you think the Atlantica region has so much potential?
It really hit home a couple of years ago when we did a study to see what was in the market within about 500 miles ˆ that's about one day via rubber tire if you're moving product. That gets you down to Philadelphia, it gets you to Toronto, it gets you into Halifax, and with some assistance it'll just about get you to Newfoundland. If you look at that region you have about 43 million consumers. Also, economically, you're looking at about $1.5 trillion gross domestic product within that market area. That's pretty strong buying power.
What advantages does Atlantica have to attract international trade?
If you take a look at the transportation resources we have in place right now, we are really sitting in a fantastic location with the port structure we have in place ˆ Maine's three ports combined with the container operations in Halifax and opportunities in St. John.
If you pull a vessel into Halifax and you throw containers on the rail, through the Canadian National system and its purchase of Illinois Central several years ago, you can access the heartland of America. And as far as shipping globally we have all the resources in place to allow any producer, any manufacturer, to gain access to any carrier and get their products throughout the world efficiently. Just because we happen to be tucked up in the northeast corner of North America does not mean that we do not have the logistical resources to allow producers or manufacturers to access global markets.
What are the region's disadvantages?
Geography is an advantage, but it's also a disadvantage. We are a little bit tucked away so we do need to understand what those disadvantages are. We can't be everything to everyone. I don't see us competing with areas like Charlotte and the southeast to become the central location for car manufacturing. We have not stepped outside our traditional boundaries and formulated a strategy that goes after a particular industry sector and then allowed everything else to cluster around that.
Have you seen examples of the Atlantica concept living up to its potential?
There's a couple ways we've seen success. One is the business-to-business aspect of it, and for that there's one [company] that we hold up as a poster child. An IT company out of St. John called the Anywhere Group has partnered with several firms in order to sell its products. They have partnered with [Pittsfield-based] Cianbro Corp., which would not have happened if we didn't have this business-to-business relationship to get them in contact with each other. Now they often go out on joint calls and they're marketing products together.
What else needs to happen for the states and provinces to adopt a regional approach to economic development?
I'd like to see a policy where we do away with a lot of redundant spending. I think we need to understand in Maine what infrastructure is being implemented and how can we tie into that, rather than spending our own money. Let's use transportation: If a Canadian port is better able to handle a product or a project, why do we want to build infrastructure that's going to be redundant? Why don't we build something that's complementary? So I'd like to see a complementary transportation strategy developed.
That's part of what we'll begin to do at the conference June 8-11 in St. John. The Reaching Atlantica conference will allow us to establish a vision and a mission and put true, measurable aspects in place where we can set the strategy for this region to expand.
What hurdles still exist?
I think one of our biggest hurdles happens to be the human resource aspect of this. Immigration and maintaining our youth ˆ that's absolutely huge. We need to be able to put forth an economy that's strong in order to stem the tide of out-migration. But in order for us to do that we need to know where we're going. If we don't have a sense of where we're going or a sense of how we're going to get there, we're going to struggle. We're going to continue to lose people, we're going to continue to lose businesses. And I'm not necessarily concerned with losing businesses to other parts of the world. I'm worried about losing them to North Carolina, I'm worried about losing them to the southeastern United States, because they are being very, very active and very aggressive in trying to get business put in place.
You're in line to take over as president of the APCC in 2007. What kind of a response do you expect when that happens?
I think it's something that has been talked about over the last couple of years. An American presence there has been very well received because I think in eastern Canada they realize that they can't go at this alone. Will there be some skeptics? Yes. Will we be watched very closely? You better believe it. All those things certainly could come up, but if you look at the larger Atlantica region and you focus on the similarities rather than the differences, I think we can get beyond that.
It's also a perspective that Daniels is in a unique position to hold. Last June, Daniels was named second vice chair of the board of directors of the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce, a Canadian organization that represents approximately 12,500 businesses in the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. A few years ago, hoping to encourage a regional approach to economic development, APCC sought an American presence on its board of directors. EMDC joined the Canadian organization in January 2004 and Daniels, who had just taken over as CEO there, took a seat on APCC's board. "It's been a learning experience over the last two and a half years," Daniels says. "I felt going in there that I knew a lot about the Canadian economy, the politics, the history, the culture. What I found out is that I understood very little of what they have going on."
An American on the board of a Canadian chamber of commerce was unique enough, but Daniels' recent election to the organization's executive committee puts him in line to take over as president in 2007. (Each president serves a one-year term, and Daniels' term is expected to begin next June.) Through that position, Daniels hopes to continue spreading a concept of economic cooperation that calls the northeast United States and eastern Canada the "Atlantica" region. It's a concept that attempts to look beyond international and interstate borders and use the individual qualities of cities and towns to strengthen the economy of the entire the region. "I think we've been so engrossed in marketing our own areas ˆ for instance Maine, or eastern Maine, or southern Maine ˆ that we tend to internalize everything and lose sight of the fact that there are resources outside our immediate vicinity," Daniels says.
Part of promoting that concept is encouraging regional dialogue and cooperation. In June, APCC is hosting the Reaching Atlantica conference in St. John, New Brunswick, to bring economic development professionals and business leaders from across Atlantica together to discuss how to work cooperatively towards economic development. Mainebiz recently spoke with Daniels to discuss his role at APCC, the Atlantica concept and the upcoming conference. An edited transcript follows.
Mainebiz: First of all, how did a Maine resident become vice chair of a Canadian chamber of commerce?
Daniels: That's a very good question. Maine and the eastern Canadian provinces have had a traditional business, cultural, historical relationship for as far back as we can remember. The Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce, or APCC, recognized a couple of years ago they wanted to further enhance that relationship. So they felt it would be important to bring an American perspective, or New England perspective, to their board of directors. I just happened to be the one standing in the way at the time.
Was Eastern Maine Development Corp. the first non-Canadian organization to join APCC?
Yes. There are now four members: EMDC, the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, the Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce and Bangor International Airport.
What is Maine's role in Atlantica?
When you look at the Atlantica region and you look at the states that are on board ˆ Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, upstate New York and the four eastern Canadian provinces ˆ Maine's really the largest player in terms of population. And the corridor between Bangor and St. John happens to sit right in the middle of the larger Atlantica region. So, strategically, [APCC] realized the importance of Maine not only economically, but also geographically.
How long has the concept been around?
The Atlantica concept has been around for a long time. It's been very active over the last decade or so, in looking at ourselves not just internally, but looking at the external factors, understanding that we needed to get beyond our local boundaries and be able to market the region as a whole. Other areas of the United States are doing this: The Charlotte region [in North Carolina] markets itself as being within 500 miles of half the U.S. population. Well, in order for us to be able to compete internationally, we needed to look at ourselves not only as Maine, or not only as New Brunswick, but look at ourselves as the larger region.
Maine and New Brunswick aren't really considered economic powerhouses. So why do you think the Atlantica region has so much potential?
It really hit home a couple of years ago when we did a study to see what was in the market within about 500 miles ˆ that's about one day via rubber tire if you're moving product. That gets you down to Philadelphia, it gets you to Toronto, it gets you into Halifax, and with some assistance it'll just about get you to Newfoundland. If you look at that region you have about 43 million consumers. Also, economically, you're looking at about $1.5 trillion gross domestic product within that market area. That's pretty strong buying power.
What advantages does Atlantica have to attract international trade?
If you take a look at the transportation resources we have in place right now, we are really sitting in a fantastic location with the port structure we have in place ˆ Maine's three ports combined with the container operations in Halifax and opportunities in St. John.
If you pull a vessel into Halifax and you throw containers on the rail, through the Canadian National system and its purchase of Illinois Central several years ago, you can access the heartland of America. And as far as shipping globally we have all the resources in place to allow any producer, any manufacturer, to gain access to any carrier and get their products throughout the world efficiently. Just because we happen to be tucked up in the northeast corner of North America does not mean that we do not have the logistical resources to allow producers or manufacturers to access global markets.
What are the region's disadvantages?
Geography is an advantage, but it's also a disadvantage. We are a little bit tucked away so we do need to understand what those disadvantages are. We can't be everything to everyone. I don't see us competing with areas like Charlotte and the southeast to become the central location for car manufacturing. We have not stepped outside our traditional boundaries and formulated a strategy that goes after a particular industry sector and then allowed everything else to cluster around that.
Have you seen examples of the Atlantica concept living up to its potential?
There's a couple ways we've seen success. One is the business-to-business aspect of it, and for that there's one [company] that we hold up as a poster child. An IT company out of St. John called the Anywhere Group has partnered with several firms in order to sell its products. They have partnered with [Pittsfield-based] Cianbro Corp., which would not have happened if we didn't have this business-to-business relationship to get them in contact with each other. Now they often go out on joint calls and they're marketing products together.
What else needs to happen for the states and provinces to adopt a regional approach to economic development?
I'd like to see a policy where we do away with a lot of redundant spending. I think we need to understand in Maine what infrastructure is being implemented and how can we tie into that, rather than spending our own money. Let's use transportation: If a Canadian port is better able to handle a product or a project, why do we want to build infrastructure that's going to be redundant? Why don't we build something that's complementary? So I'd like to see a complementary transportation strategy developed.
That's part of what we'll begin to do at the conference June 8-11 in St. John. The Reaching Atlantica conference will allow us to establish a vision and a mission and put true, measurable aspects in place where we can set the strategy for this region to expand.
What hurdles still exist?
I think one of our biggest hurdles happens to be the human resource aspect of this. Immigration and maintaining our youth ˆ that's absolutely huge. We need to be able to put forth an economy that's strong in order to stem the tide of out-migration. But in order for us to do that we need to know where we're going. If we don't have a sense of where we're going or a sense of how we're going to get there, we're going to struggle. We're going to continue to lose people, we're going to continue to lose businesses. And I'm not necessarily concerned with losing businesses to other parts of the world. I'm worried about losing them to North Carolina, I'm worried about losing them to the southeastern United States, because they are being very, very active and very aggressive in trying to get business put in place.
You're in line to take over as president of the APCC in 2007. What kind of a response do you expect when that happens?
I think it's something that has been talked about over the last couple of years. An American presence there has been very well received because I think in eastern Canada they realize that they can't go at this alone. Will there be some skeptics? Yes. Will we be watched very closely? You better believe it. All those things certainly could come up, but if you look at the larger Atlantica region and you focus on the similarities rather than the differences, I think we can get beyond that.
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