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Dovico Software: Congratulations to Atlantic Business Magazine for a successful 25 years in business! We just attended the launch at the Capitol theatre in Moncton. Thank you for supporting and featuring great companies.

Gilles Allain: I just read your article entitled “The World According to John” (Risley). Great insights from one of our greatest exporters… He is right on the money about business needing to take the lead from government for our region’s growth.

Ryan Crocker: It’s unfortunate Kathy Dunderdale was so unpopular because she really didn’t do anything too bad. However, actual impact isn’t everything. Harper has given in to more of Newfoundland and Labrador’s demands than just about any Prime Minister in our history with this federation, but he is still generally despised in the province because of his overall tone, attitude, and national policies. Dunderdale suffered from a bit of the same: Bill 29 is unforgivable. And such a stupid, inexplicable move. For the life of me, I can’t understand why that was a priority. But bravo to her for winning a mandate and being the REAL first woman elected to lead our province, unlike Kim Campbell nationally. And bravo to her for having the class to step down with her head held high.

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@AltiusMinerals: Congratulations to @AtlanticBus for celebrating their 25th anniversary this year.

@ECImmigration: Read @AtlanticBus “Fertile Ground”. Great example of foreign workers helping to build a business.

@UnisonTherapy: Spend the money, honey. Bravo @eleanorbeaton cheering women entrepreneurs. #MustRead in @AtlanticBus

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Dianne Kelderman, president, Atlantic Economics (Truro, N.S.): Congratulations to Hubert and your team on your 25th anniversary and the launch of the new Atlantic Business Magazine. I love the new look and layout!

I really enjoyed Stephen Kimber’s interview with John Risley. And I couldn’t agree more with Risley: it will be the business community and only the business community who can lead and grow the economy of this great region. Government simply cannot, and will not do it, for all of the reasons Risley articulated.

I have had the pleasure of serving on Boards with Risley and have great admiration for his wisdom, commonsense, success and commitment to our region. I share many of his views and suffer the same curse – the “work addiction”. It’s tough, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

It would be a blessing to our province for a man of John’s caliber to become our Premier. He would be, I think, a lot like Danny Williams. He would make the tough decisions, the right decisions, for the right reasons. Why? Because he has the ability, the guts and he doesn’t need the pay cheque to do the job!

Bill MacDonald (Halifax, N.S): Congratulations to Mr. Hubert Hutton on the success of Atlantic Business magazine. I remember him visiting me when I was manager of National Bank of Canada on Water St. in the summer of 1982, seeking advertising support for an unheard-of magazine. I recall he had a wonderful personality and deserved much success. Nice to see he met his vision. Best wishes for continued success.

Roland McCaffrey (Halifax, N.S.): I see, on your publication’s masthead, the words provocative and powerful. Those two words describe the interview/article with John Risley very well. He makes excellent points in the well-written article.

Nova Scotia has serious business and economic development issues in both the rural and urban areas. Regrettably, most of the time our politicians do not realize what is required to move forward economically and rely on advice from people who lack business and economic development experience. We cannot rely any longer on the government “to do it for us”.

We need to re-instill entrepreneurship into our population’s mindset and can do so only via leadership. While one could argue that various levels of our education system can accomplish this task, I would counter that that system needs major overhauling. If we, as a population, do not develop more business and entrepreneurial activities here we will, in fact, continue to have Fort McMurray as one of Nova Scotia’s biggest employers. We export our people well.

Iaian Archibald (Halifax, N.S.): Business is the lifeblood of our society. Just as with a society’s people, some businesses contribute more to society on various levels, most do some equal measures of contribution and harm, and some harm more than they contribute. Looking at Mr. Risley’s Clearwater from a triple bottom line perspective (profits/people/planet) it seems to be the kind of business that harms more than it contributes.

From a profit perspective, Clearwater has received large fuel subsidies, arguably the worst type of corporate welfare. Clearwater’s push from an individual quota system to an individual transferable quota system, and the offshoring of processing, has gutted our coastal communities. Environmentally Clearwater’s dragging practices, to name just one detrimental fishing method, have created ecological deserts offshore.

From this perspective I fail to see why Mr. Risley should be lauded as a visionary leader, or how he has the moral authority to lead Nova Scotia out of our current troubled economic position. Arguably, Clearwater has been a player in us getting into this troubling position in the first place.

Paul W. (Montreal, Q.C.): As promised, the latest edition of Atlantic Business was smart, sophisticated, provocative and powerful. I was really impressed with the new look. The fonts, revised logo, new columns, etc…. great job! You have invested so much energy, time and thought into your magazine that you must be proud of what you’ve accomplished the past 25 years.

Over the past two to three years, I have literally read dozens of articles on America’s Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). However, John Risley’s article on this topic was the clearest and most understandable article that I’ve read. I now have a crystal clear idea of the positives and negatives surrounding America’s Affordable Care Act. Hats off to Mr. Risley!

Sheila Hallett (St. John’s, N.L.): Ms. Chafe’s article on Zita Cobb/ Shorefast Foundation/Fogo Island (November 2013) provides a balanced look at what promises to be a successful revitalization of an entire community and a regeneration of a unique culture. Ms. Chafe points out that … Zita Cobb risked not only sizable funds but her reputation by ‘putting her money where her mouth is.’ Is this injection merely an attempt at yet another ‘doomed to failure’ social re-engineering program? Not according to Zita Cobb, or this article. It is rather a very tangible commitment to, love of, and deep respect for, the people and way of life of Fogo Island. While Ms. Cobb appears to have a vision for this diverse and multifaceted community, it seems, more importantly, that she has a belief in the strength and resilience of the people of Fogo Island. And it is that strength and resilience which is the true ingredient for the success of this venture. Ms. Cobb has demonstrated, again in a very tangible way, her love and respect by partnering with the people of Fogo Island who have retained the knowledge, skill and intelligence of their forefathers (and mothers) that helped to create this place and now have the opportunity to ensure that none of those skills are lost. This island community has weathered many financial crises, many struggles for cultural independence and integrity among the various smaller communities that make the place called Fogo Island. And in spite of, or perhaps because of these many struggles the place has survived, rooted like the Inn, in the bedrock of the ocean. I can’t wait to revisit this remarkable place and stay just one night at the Inn.

Paul Graham (Truro, N.S.): Love the magazine, love the content, and have for years. Your new design is great. However, my 47 year-old eyes are having a hard time reading the new font with the light colour. I only get time to read magazines/papers/ipad at the end of very busy days (like most business owners, I’m sure). I am usually tired and it is usually dark. I just find it relatively difficult to see, even in good light. Minor feedback, but it is important in my eye.

Jill Rafuse (Halifax, N.S.): Thanks for some interesting and thoughtprovoking material. However, I found the issue hard to read. The font is attractive but very light and somewhat condensed, which makes it a challenge to read except in bright light, as I discovered last evening. In the N.B. Special Report section, the designers used greyshade backgrounds and a smaller size, and I had to finish it this morning in the sun. The font was small in the section on Top Employers as well. I sometimes found the contrasts between light grey body text, which is where the meat of the story is, and the bold black subheads and paragraph openings, like in the Oland story, distracting.

Dawn Eyland-Reiss (Dartmouth, N.S.): I understand that as a business magazine you want to emphasize advertisements in your magazine and you have accomplished this as all of the adverts are clear and legible. Unfortunately the faded grey scale font used for the articles in the magazine is very difficult to read and is a strain on my vision! Please change the font to black.

Maryanne Palmer (Charlottetown, P.E.I.): I really enjoy the articles in Atlantic Business Magazine. They are informative, engaging and, on the whole, well written. but it is very hard to read! The older I get, the harder it is to see the faint type. Please, please, use a little more ink! I really want to be able to read your magazine in comfort sans resulting headache.

Editor’s note: We apologize for the font issue in our January edition – it printed lighter than we had anticipated. This issue’s font is both darker and larger. Does it make enough of a difference? Is it easier to read? Please let us know.