Wade MacLauchlan's roots run deep in the ruddy soil of PEI, but his ambition has always been global. For almost 11 years, Mr. MacLauchlan has been president of the University of Prince Edward Island, a regional economic engine that has spawned biotech startups and computer geeks. His leadership at UPEI comes to an end in 2011 and, as the son of a legendary local entrepreneur, he is thinking of where this reputedly have-not province will find new sources of innovation.
How is the local economy faring?
When people outside PEI ask me how things are, I say "it is still pre-recession." The economy in Atlantic Canada chugs along. We didn't see the peaks and valleys, and the makeup of our economy is different from places that got hit hard. Part of it is that public spending is a big factor here, and governments are now in a stimulus mode.
A lot of the economy in smaller communities involves people trading with each other - for example, just going out to dinner - and the price of a hockey stick is still the same. People didn't have the same reason to draw back as if they were on Wall Street or in the oil patch.
But on the UPEI website last year, you talked about "setbacks" for the province and university.
It's part of your job to make sure people know where the next loop up your belt is, in case you have to buckle. It is really important in a community or an institution for people to realize we operate within limitations.
Frankly, I don't think we have seen anything yet, compared to what can reasonably be foreseen two or three years down the path. When you look at the deficits Ontario is feeling, that can't help but have an impact on the kind of resources available to other provinces, both through the operation of the national economy and the transfers.
What is the universities' role in this crisis?
It's never been more important to do what we do and do more of it - in terms of moving to the emerging economy and what will pay the bills in the 21st century. This leadership will have to come from areas where you have really good universities connected to their communities and doing really strong things.
On the broader issues, look at our demographic situation in Canada and the Western world, where few populations are reproducing as they once did. So with the big deficits we face, how can we scale back and climb out of this hole? And then we look at our literacy performance, and things look even worse.
So I turn it around and say, "We've got a lot of people here who could contribute more." We could go from an economy that kind of got away from us, and move into the economy of the Internet. Rural broadband is not as widespread as people tell you, but it is coming. When you look at how the economy is growing in the service area, there are opportunities to do things. Everybody doesn't have to move away.
So you want a big project on pulling people up to their potential?
We should tackle this in the same way we tackled the returning veterans from the Second World War - and look at what that produced for 50 years. People were given capabilities and accelerated [learning] programs. That would be a better form of stimulus than a lot of what we've done today. It's really been about getting our picture in the paper.
Look at what took place in that second half of the 20th century, when you had returning veterans; you had women coming into the work force and into leadership. You had particular populations, such as the Acadians, that went through generational transformation, and it continued. We have to be looking to see what the next one is.
Can PEI grab that wave?
We have the advantage of scale - in this case, smaller scale. If we do it and do it in a sustainable way, we can make a powerful difference. I'm thinking of the things than can be done away from the big centres - like what PEI is doing in biosciences. Novartis, for example, has its fish-health operation for the world in PEI. They bought a company that was originally related to the university.
