I always get in trouble when I talk about the auto sector but what the heck, here I go again. There are 440 automtive OE parts suppliers based in Brazil, 22 automaker assembly plants & 10 parts plants. The vast…
Continue ReadingDispatches from the road: Sao Paulo
I am here. One of the side effects – benefits – of marrying a Brazilian. Especially one that misses her country a bunch. Sao Paulo is an egregiously large city. 10 million in the city – in an area of…
Continue ReadingIf you can’t beat ’em, join ’em
You know that old saying if you can’t beam ’em, join ’em. Well, that’s what happened this week with one of New Brunswick’s largest call centres. TransWorks, a division of the large India firm Aditya Birla Group to purchase Minacs…
Continue ReadingThe Meek Shall Inherit… more Equalization
At the very heart of the matter, this is what is holding Atlantic Canada back. Halifax-based Jim Meek in this article, clearly outlines Donald Savoie’s contention that federal public policies led directly to the growth of the auto sector in…
Continue ReadingThis one hurts, too.
I know some folks in Atlantic Canad were working a project similar to this one. I have no idea if it was the same, but it still would have been nice: A new Fidelity Investments Customer Contact Center is planned…
Continue ReadingClarity on tax rates
One of the things that bothers me the most about corporate taxes is the fact they everyone always looks at tax rates rather than actual taxes paid. And in the world of corporate taxation those things couldn’t be much farther…
Continue ReadingBountrogianni – remember this name
I am starting to think that Ontario Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Marie Bountrogianni is the new nemesis on the Equalization battle. I told you before that she ‘wasn’t going to sit idly by and watch Ontario become a have-not province’ as…
Continue ReadingMilk that puppy for all its worth
Funny how times change, huh? In 1998, then leader of the Opposition Bernard Lord criticized the Liberals for attracting low end call centre jobs to New Brunswick and promised a ‘made in New Brunswick’ solution to economic development. In the…
Continue ReadingI never understood why government towns don’t just admit the tremendous economic impact of the government sector in their communities? It’s almost as if it’s a dirty word or something. Check out the government of Ottawa’s web site some time,…
Continue ReadingThis one hurts. A Canadian company plans to build an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Plattsburgh International Airport that is expected to employ up to 760 people.Gov. George Pataki was in Plattsburgh Monday to announce that Laurentian Aerospace…
Continue Reading