We have dicussed this ad nauseum on this blog over the past few years but I still think that it remains a valid question. To some, Equalization is a perfectly legitimate – and if you remember former Premier Lord’s fiery…
Continue ReadingI love the spin. It’s an art form. It really is.
I love government spin. It’s fun: From Bloomberg: New Brunswick had its debt rating cut by one level to Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service Ltd. because the Canadian province will record a “sizable” increase in its borrowing over four years,…
Continue ReadingAn instructive example
Somebody sent me this. Oregon Looks to Clean Tech for Revival The Oregon Business Development Department’s network of about 45 economic-development officials has more than doubled the time spent reaching out to clean-tech companies since 2008, said Bruce Laird, clean-tech…
Continue ReadingWalk down memory lane
The Miramichi Leader is running a series of stories on the area’s history and this one is entitled The timber industry becomes a driving force in the Miramichi (19th Century). I wonder when historians are writing about this period what will…
Continue ReadingThe ostrich sticks his head out of the sand for a pronouncement
There is an article today in the TJ where a Fredericton businessman worries the “province risks losing its head offices as business leaders look abroad for companies to acquire their firms.” This is not as cut and dry as some…
Continue ReadingUNB and computer science
I may be just getting old so allow an old geezer a reflection. When I was finishing high school and doing the obligatory review of potential universities I distinctly remember UNB positioning itself as one of Canada’s top computer science…
Continue ReadingMinnesota: All Growed Up
Look at Minnesota all growed up and playing with the big boys. It seems to me that Minnesota has a little New Brunswick look and feel. Cold, lots of huntin’ and fishin’ – lots of skeeters. Maybe we can learn…
Continue ReadingWest Virginia North?
I know this is an old report but I doubt the numbers have changed that much. I pull it out everytime some smart pundit or politicians worries that New Brunswick could end up like Alabama or West Virginia (like this…
Continue ReadingIs beer economic development?
I had a lively chat a few years ago when Molson announced they would be putting a plant in Moncton (with a large grant from the province). The person I was discussing this with was insistent that it wasn’t economic…
Continue ReadingEntrepreneurial risk vs. bad business practices
I had an interesting talk today with someone about this issue of celebrating failure. I have said in the past, and many others as well, that we need to be a society that encourages entrepreneurial risk – particularly in the…
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