I have worked with over 60+ economic development organizations over the past decade and I would say the majority of them have faced serious questions about why they exist and if they are adding any value – if they are…
Continue ReadingAlbert County: The spark that started a 170 year global economic renaissance?
There is a fascinating story in the Times & Transcript this weekend about Albert County and its role as the “birthplace of the petroleum industry”. He is making his pitch and getting traction. The Petroleum History Institute is “making a…
Continue ReadingWill Atlantic Canada finally become a hotbed for IT?
I still remember a speech given by former PM Jean Chrétien in the mid 1990s talking about the promise of the information technology (IT) sector. He said that unlike manufacturing or transportation or even other services that are based on…
Continue ReadingYou want to retain population? Restrict immigration. Warning, this will come with a cost.
There is a lot of focus these days on immigrant retention. We have a new source of data, Medicare cards, to help us track the flow of new immigrant populations within Canada. In fact, population retention – not just immigrants…
Continue ReadingAre we losing the art of persuasion?
I love Terry O’Reilly’s CBC show, Under the Influence, but a much preferred his earlier title for the show “The Age of Persuasion”. In our modern times, influence is a much more pejorative term than persuasion. When I am…
Continue ReadingMake no mistake, the Boomers are critical to our future
One of the interesting aspects of the iconic TV series Mad Men is its portrayal of age in the 1960s. When looking to position the ad agency as youthful, Duck Phillips decres how old the core team is (average age…
Continue Reading