What Brings Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Frank McKenna Together In Small Town Nova Scotia
WALLACE, N.S. – Some of the world’s most powerful people have been gathering in a village in Nova Scotia annually for the last 18 years – all thanks to the networking power of Frank McKenna, former N.B. premier and Canadian Ambassador to the U.S., and current TD Bank Deputy Chairman.
McKenna holds an annual business networking event at Fox Harb’r Golf & Spa Resort in Wallace. This year’s event on July 9th featured former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“It’s just because of the issues in the world, ranging from Brexit to NAFTA to Iran to the state of Europe to what’s going on in North Korea and so on. There’s just so many intriguing issues that both of these gentlemen appeared,” McKenna said in a phone interview with Huddle.
Business leaders from the Maritimes, the rest of Canada and cities as far as London, U.K., joined premiers, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, academics, Indigenous leaders, and senior public servants at the one-day event.
“[Guests] get to engage with each other in meeting somebody they may never have known before or might not have the opportunity to meet. So, it’s good to lubricate the wheels of the political dialogue in Atlantic Canada and the business dialogue as well,” he said.
“A lot of business relationships form. I get notes after every event that we host from business leaders talking about the contacts they made and how it’s been able to open up new opportunities.”
During the day, some of the participants played golf. Then they move on to a two-hour reception, a photo line with guest speakers and dinner with speeches, a debate moderated by McKenna, and a question and answer period. An after-dinner reception follows late into the night.
“President Clinton golfed with us during the day and he got to meet a lot of people during the day,” said McKenna. “That’s a great chance to talk.”
At dinner, the menu is typically Maritime-themed, with lobster and a meat product for those who don’t like seafood. And with the event being held in Wallace, a half-an-hour drive from Canada’s wild blueberry capital of Oxford, the dessert always has blueberries in it.
McKenna began hosting the event at his home in Cap-Pelé in the years after he completed his last term as premier. The gathering began to grow in size so he moved it to Fox Harb’r. Now it’s beginning to outgrow that venue given the number of people that want to attend.
“I was looking for a way to continue to use some of the brand equity that comes from being a premier and continue to contribute. This seemed like a logical [way] to take advantage of my Rolodex and bring people together,” he said.
Some of McKenna’s guests, like Clinton, have attended the event more than once.
“[Guests] really get to know the area. This is President Clinton’s third time coming back and he’s gone out of his way to accommodate it because he really likes the resort, he likes the venue, he likes the stimulation,” McKenna said.
“You get some amazing conversations, ambassadors from around the world speak to some of our local business leaders and they get exposed to extraordinarily stimulating ideas about what’s going on in other places.”
Below are a few photos from this year’s event: