May 20, 2025
AEDC will help unlock growth in the Arctic through private-sector expertise, northern partnerships and capital
- AEDC will accelerate investment and infrastructure development across Canada’s Arctic, including the strategic Northwest Passage
- Co-founded by John Risley, Michael McNair and Sean Leet, and rooted in decades of partnership with northerners, AEDC will bring together operational excellence, a full spectrum of infrastructure & logistics services, and crucially, Indigenous participation.
- AEDC will solve execution and delivery problems, helping visionary clients move quickly to get big things done in the Arctic.It has begun working with established partners to advance initial projects of critical importance to Canadian sovereignty.
Halifax, Nova Scotia. A new Canadian enterprise, the Arctic Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), has launched to support large-scale investment and infrastructure development in Canada’s Arctic. This purpose-driven private sector initiative will help the country face rising geopolitical pressures, the urgent need to assert national sovereignty, and seize the dramatic potential of northern resource corridors and economic growth.
AEDC was founded to address the persistent gap between vision and execution in the North, where promising ideas often stall before becoming reality. Backed by Canadian business and policy leader John Risley, the company works with partners to build comprehensive infrastructure solutions across the Arctic.
“The Arctic is essential to Canada’s future” said John Risley, Chairman of AEDC. “The world is waking up to its importance. We will pull together the capital, people and most importantly the solutions, that will ensure it is an anchor of Canadian prosperity. That begins with partnerships with Indigenous peoples, including across Inuit Nunangat. I have worked with northern Indigenous communities for forty years and as stewards of the land and sea, they live the reality of the Arctic everyday and must benefit economically.”
“AEDC bridges the critical gap between ideas, capability and community,” says President and CEO Michael McNair, “We understand what it takes to build in the North and bring the knowledge, relationships and discipline to get it done.” Michael McNair was most recently Global Managing Director at the Tony Blair Institute where he led the worldwide doubling of the company’s operational footprint to 125+ projects, primarily focused on delivery, across 45 developing and advanced countries.
Through collaborative delivery models, AEDC will accelerate projects such as transportation corridors, marine services including icebreakers, satellite communication, warehouses, clean energy, strategic construction projects, while also developing project finance capabilities. AEDC’s model provides a strategic vision for Arctic development— that is then executed through in-house capabilities & expertise, along with a diversified contractor pool drawn from across Canada and allied nations.
About the Arctic Economic Development Corporation (AEDC)
The Arctic Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) is Canada’s dedicated Arctic infrastructure and logistics services provider. It solves problems for visionary clients committed to getting big things done in the Arctic. It generates significant economic value for its clients, Indigenous partners, contracting companies, and investors through broad capabilities, world-class quality standards, Indigenous participation, low-cost solutions, and rapid delivery.
Contact
Paul Monlezun
Principal Advisor
PAA Advisory
613-222-7184