The Province has retained a bunch of the economic developers from the 1990s to help them with investment lead generation. I worked with most of these guys during my time at the Dept. of Economic Development and Tourism. I wish…
Continue ReadingDon’t mess with farmers and seniors
Those of you who have read my blog for awhile will have heard this story before. I was reminded of this theme when chatting with someone recently about biofuels. He told me that New Brunswick was one of the worst…
Continue ReadingAsymmetricalism makes sense
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail: Ottawa drafts new deal for provincesTories willing to extend greater economic autonomy – such as allowing Quebec to negotiate unilateral labour deal with FranceJuly 30, 2008 at 4:00 AM EDT QUEBEC — The Harper government…
Continue ReadingTaxation and economic development
My TJ column this week discusses the proposed tax changes in New Brunswick. In a nutshell, I believe that the government should control spending – within the rate of inflation, try to keep corporate and personal income taxes competitive with…
Continue ReadingMiramichi greasing the wheels
It was only a matter of time. Trying to profit from misfortune is as old as time itself. There are folks in the Miramichi that want to put direct flights from the Miramichi airport to Fort McMurray. I wonder if…
Continue ReadingThe tax conundrum
It seems odd for an economic developer to be urging caution when it comes to cutting corporate tax rates. But that is exactly what I am doing. This new survey proves my point. Halifax compared well with other cities around…
Continue ReadingBright but clouded
It doesn’t matter how smart a person is, lots of things can cloud their judgement and application of intellect to the problems of the day (including myself although at a much reduced intellectual level). Take this Mark Milke fellow from…
Continue ReadingNew chairman for the NBIF
Scroll down this article and read Lacey’s comments. Is there another NBIF that I am not familiar with? Bernard Lord set up the NBIF to be the catalyst for his goal of getting New Brunswick from last to third among…
Continue ReadingIt’s the economy, stupid podcast edition (July 27)
Here is the latest podcast edition of the blog. Hope you enjoy it. We are talking about energy, economic development policy and infrastructure – among other things. Hope you enjoy it.
Continue ReadingElectricity and economic development
I guess I am just a hopeless (helpless?) romantic when it comes to this stuff but I have long hoped that New Brunswick would get back to the day when it saw electricity as an economic development driver and a…
Continue Reading