One provincial deliberative dialogue was held in each of the four Atlantic provinces. The purpose of these deliberative dialogues was to:

• Engage business, labour, government and community leaders in an inclusive, reflective, values-based and transparent process;
• Enable a collective stocktaking of the issues, priorities, and action.

These were daylong facilitated dialogues with up to 50 participants, representing the province's business, labour, community and government voices. Participants where provided with a workbook that helped them reflect on the issue of skills needs in the context of an aging workforce.

This was accomplished through a mix of small group and plenary discussions. Participants were pre-assigned to one of three small groups (labelled Blue, Green, and Red), to ensure that each group included labour, business, community, and government perspectives.

The morning conversation was dedicated to understanding the issue and identifying priorities, with a focus on exploring underlying values, differences, and common ground. The question used to focus the morning conversation was: What key topics and specific challenges are important to you and why? The afternoon conversation focused on action. In particular, participants explored what needs to be done, by whom and under what conditions. The question used to focus this part of the conversation was: What actions must be undertaken? By whom? Under what conditions?

Participants in the in-person dialogues were also asked to complete pre- and post-dialogue questionnaires on-site to assist in measuring shifts in their perspectives as a result of their participation in this event.

The Prince Edward Island deliberative dialogue was held in Charlottetown, at the Delta Prince Edward Hotel on April 27, 2006. It brought together 41 Islanders, representing the perspectives of business (34%), labour (27%), the community (20%) and various levels of government (20%).