AIMS-sponsored Retreat on the “International Northeast”
Examines Collaborative Future of Atlantic Canada and
Northern New England

[HALIFAX] — An international gathering of businesspeople, academics and opinion leaders converged last weekend on the village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia for a three-day conference to consider the future of the “International Northeast” region of North America. The Conference, titled “Beyond Borders: Prospects for Atlantica in a Globalising World,” was organised by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies of Halifax, Nova Scotia (www.aims.ca), Atlantica Group LLC of Portland, Maine (www.atlanticagroup.com) and the Pugwash Park Commission. The heads of the three organisations co-chaired the event: Patrick Boyer, former MP and Chairman of the Pugwash Park Commission, Brian Lee Crowley, President of AIMS, and Perry Newman, President, Atlantica Group.

The cross-border implications of numerous topics were examined, including:

Energy
Transport
Education
Business Development and Attraction
Obstacles to the free flow of goods, services, capital and people at the border
Political co-operation and the idea of “integration”
Besides the co-chairmen, some of the other twenty participants from both sides of the border included:

Hon. Donald Cameron, former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Consul-General in Boston
Kenneth M. Curtis, former Governor of Maine and US Ambassador to Canada
Bill Haggett, former head of the Irving Shipyards in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
Michael MacDonald, former President, Greater Halifax Partnership
Jacke Thayer Scott, President, University College of Cape Breton
Debora Walsh, East Coast Manager, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Robert Woodbury, Dean, Edmund Muskie School of Public Service
Timothy Woodcock, Chair, Maine Citizens for Increased Jobs & Safety (East-West Highway Association)
The meeting’s purpose was not to produce recommendations, but rather to examine issues of common concern and models for cross-border co-operation to address those concerns, such as in the “Cascadia region” of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. AIMS has undertaken to develop the ideas discussed and to prepare some suggested follow-up at a second conference in a year’s time.

Pugwash’s internationally renowned “Thinkers’ Lodge” is the ancestral home of noted Canadian industrialist Cyrus Eaton, and has been the site of extraordinary international gatherings of political and world leaders for many years. In the 1960’s, Thinkers’ Lodge was the epicentre of a then-controversial nuclear disarmament movement that ultimately won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. Information about the Pugwash Movement and its continuing activities can be found on the web at www.pugwash.org.

For more information on the Pugwash Conference “Beyond Borders: Prospects for Atlantica in a Globalising World,” including a list of readings and event photos, please click here.

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For further information, please contact:

Brian Lee Crowley, President, AIMS: 902-499-1998
Perry Newman, President, Atlantica Group LLC: 207-775-1547