Atco chief executive sees ‘astounding’ opportunities in northern defence

ATCO chief executive officer Nancy Southern addresses the company's annual meeting in Calgary on Wednesday, May 15, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — The chief executive of Atco Ltd. says discussions around Alberta secession are already hurting the investment climate.

Nancy Southern said Asian partners in a major hydrogen project have said they won't make final investment decisions unless there is certainty around the Alberta separatism question.

"There's just too many questions for them to be confident that they can move forward with large-scale investment decisions, and so I think the separatist discussion is very unhelpful and not constructive to Alberta," she said in an interview Wednesday following Atco's annual shareholder meeting in Calgary.

Questions include how an independent Alberta would get its products to coastal ports, what kind of trade deals it would have with its neighbours, what currency it would use and how stable the economy would be.

Southern says she understands Albertans' frustration with the federal government.

"We have had the short end of the stick on many occasions as a result of new regulations and legislation and rule of law," Southern said.

"I'm a big believer that this prime minister wants to change things and I think we need to sit down and work together."

Talk of Alberta going it alone or joining the United States has ratcheted up since the federal Liberals won a fourth term in office last month.

In the province, where all but a few seats went Conservative blue, there is widespread discontent with federal environmental policies affecting the key oilpatch industry.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has introduced a bill that, if passed, would make it far easier for Albertans to launch referendums on various topics — including splitting from Canada.

Smith has said she wants to see the province stay within Canada but she's willing to put the question to Albertans as soon as next year if petitioners gather the requisite 177,000 signatures to trigger a referendum.

Smith has pointed to growing alienation in her province and frustration with Ottawa, saying those wanting to separate "are not fringe voices."

Also Wednesday, Southern highlighted potential opportunities for the Calgary-based company's defence arm in an increasingly unstable geopolitical climate.

Last month Ottawa awarded a contract to a joint venture between Atco Frontec and the Inuvialuit Development Corp. for a new radar defence system in the Northwest Territories.

The two-year contract is worth $48.4 million. It covers the design, construction, installation and operation of the Polar Over-the-Horizon Radar system.

"The opportunities in Canada are really quite astounding, especially as Canada moves to modernize the Norad system and strengthen our northern defence," Southern told the meeting.

She said the system is "very needed in today's North" and it can detect targets at long ranges — hundreds to thousands of kilometres.

Southern underlined the need for north-south corridors to get goods and resources to market, but much of the discussion has been on east-west infrastructure projects.

That could mean tapping into the port of Churchill, Man., where there is tanker access to Europe via Hudson Bay.

"The north-south corridor is too often forgotten. But I think now, given the security concerns around the Arctic and Arctic sovereignty, they're probably more important than ever," she said in the interview.

"And I do think, as Canadians, it is our opportunity and our privilege and our duty, actually, to bring economic development to our Arctic regions."

Southern told shareholders said she's encouraged Carney is taking action on housing, defence and energy.

"As we stand at a pretty critical juncture in our country's, province's and company's future, and as we navigate through these very turbulent times, the uncertainty that we've faced in recent years is likely to persist and potentially intensify," Southern said.

"Trade tensions, supply chain, inflationary pressures, geopolitical conflict, and the accelerating pace of technological change are all converging to create a stubbornly complex and unpredictable environment."

Atco, with some 21,000 employees and a global footprint, has subsidiaries in a diverse array of sectors, including defence, modular building construction, electricity distribution and transmission, and more.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2025.

Companies in this story: (TSX: ACO. X)

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press