Deals have been made during the first two days of the Team Canada Atlantic trade mission to New England. Island firms, in particular, are reporting great success.
Lou-Mar Mouldings, a division of Lou-Mar Furniture Limited from Wellington, is extremely pleased with the results of the first four meetings on the mission.
"We've done extremely well," said Lou Gallant, President of Lou-Mar Mouldings. "I've had two large distributors of building supplies purchase our mouldings for a house, which provides great potential for us. I believe that once they see our product in a home, they will appreciate the difference of real wood veneer mouldings. One client was so impressed, he provided me with a sales projection of $750,000 per year." He added, "On this mission, I expected to show my samples but didn't anticipate receiving such a positive response. The level of interest for our product in New England has been truly phenomenal."
Premier Pat Binns provided the key note address at this morning's business breakfast in Connecticut. In attendance was Governor Rowland and members of the business community. Following an in-depth discussion of the mission and the favourable business climate in Atlantic Canada, Premier quipped, "Our visit to Connecticut has certainly been worthwhile, as we can now add to our resumes that we've been to Yale."
This is day three of the mission, with companies spending the day visiting potential clients in Connecticut. The mission will conclude Thursday in Braintree, Massachusetts.
The Team Canada Atlantic mission is an initiative of the Council of Atlantic Premiers in cooperation with the Alliance of Manufacturers and Exporters. The trade mission is being funded by the Government of Canada through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).