After wading through all the wonderful self-congratulatory praise (see the press release) for the 2005-2006 financial performance of New Brunswick, I got to page 55 of 56. There I found this:
Business New Brunswick actual expenses for 2005: $49.2M
Business New Brunswick actual expenses for 2006: $33.6M
Is there not one editor, journalist or commentator that will politely question the government as to why they find it necessary to reduce economic development expenditures when they are bragging about surpluses?
We are in population decline. 14 straight years of net out-migration. Non-oil exports are down $800 million since 2000. Forestry sector collapsing.
And their response is to cut economic development funding.