My upcoming column in the Economy Lab looks at reliance on government transfer income (i.e. CPP, OAS, EI, social assistance, etc.) and income taxes generated to come up with communities that are ‘have’ (i.e. contributing more but taking out less)…
Continue ReadingLooking at New Brunswick’s collective ‘paycheque’
I have been writing lately about how New Brunswickers are far more reliant on government than ever before but it seems more and more are tuning out or becoming increasing cynical. Certainly we are more reliant on government as a…
Continue ReadingDeconstructing the sources of economic growth
In my TJ column tomorrow I will be taking another stab at the question I am frequently confronted with – why does the government attract multinational firms when the focus should be on New Brunswick small businesses. This has been…
Continue ReadingNB Power – the new NBTel?
I got an email yesterday from someone close to the NB Power deal with Siemens telling me that this had the potential to be NBTel-like in that it would lead to a number of New Brunswick IT firms building products…
Continue ReadingIntegrating new graduate and professional immigrants
Got a few questions relating to immigrants who graduate from our universities/colleges and would like to pursue their careers in New Brunswick. I’ll put forward a few thoughts on this. If you think about it, networks matter – informal and…
Continue ReadingIntellectual laziness and public policy
We live in an age of unprecedented access to information, decision support tools and expert opinion. When I started in my career more than 20 years ago, I had to get Statistics Canada data by going to the UNB…
Continue ReadingWhere will the EI changes have the greatest impact?
Where will the EI changes have the greatest impact? The Mowat Centre has been writing op/eds and analysis insinuating the impact will be greatest in Western Canada but if you read carefully – they say at the ‘individual’ level. I…
Continue ReadingVancouver: Complacent about rapid growth? Lessons for NB?
I love following the debates that go on in other cities across Canada. Take Vancouver, ex-City Planners are ‘concerned’ that the current leadership is not doing enough to prepare the city for the rapid growth expected over the next 40…
Continue ReadingFrom Genesys to a revelation: Local Multinationals are the low hanging fruit
I have had the opportunity to do some work with Invest NB so I put my bias on the table but I have to say the folks who are complaining that most of Invest NB’s announcements have been multinational expansions…
Continue ReadingEverything you ever wanted to know about natural gas
The Economist magazine has a spectacular special report this week on natural gas. It covers everything from how the gas market works, to the new technologies used to extract gas to how gas is changing energy markets around the world.…
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