I know we have talked about this ad nauseum in this blog but there is another report out today from Statistics Canada that should once again raise the flag of caution about spending 95% of our economic development time trying…
Continue ReadingRob Moir puts forward interesting ideas
NDP candidate Rob Moir has at least two things going for him: 1) he is blogging and 2) he has some interesting ideas. The following is a response he made to my criticism of his distributed emails as not proffering…
Continue ReadingActivists of the world unite
My column today is likely to annoy environmentalists and community activists but what the hey. I happen to believe every word of it and would be happy to expound in greater detail if you like. Take Rob Moir, the NBP…
Continue ReadingBuilding a better sandbox
I have been keeping an eye on Indiana over the past few years – particularly after they landed the largest pharmaceutical benefits management (PBM) project I have ever seen – the HQ of Medco and 1,600 high paying jobs. In…
Continue ReadingThe famous pre-announcement
An enduring memory from the McKenna days. They would start by hinting a new project would be coming. Then they would announce the project at a press conference. Then they would have another press conference when the sod was turned…
Continue ReadingSomeone asked me to comment on the VW/Tennessee auto deal: Tennessee, for instance, has just disclosed that it agreed to give German carmaker Volkswagen $577m in incentives for its $1bn plant in Chattanooga. A senior executive at Fiat, the Italian…
Continue ReadingTBTF
If you have been following the U.S. financial crisis you will have heard this term – Too Big To Fail and its acronym TBTF. It refers to those huge, globally interconnected financial firms that if they went down would drag…
Continue ReadingSelf sufficiency – that slippery thing
Rorschach test. I am sorry to bring that up again but it seems that self-sufficiency can be defined as just about anything you want. Check out Marcel Mersereau definition: …..whether it be forward thinking and necessary environmental policy, better child…
Continue ReadingGroan. Opportunity cost = opportunity lost
From the TJ today: When governors from New England and premiers from the Canadian East met this week, they were presented with highlights from a yet-to-be released study, and one astounding conclusion: spruce up your highways, railways and ports and…
Continue ReadingYanking the chain
A little bummed tonight. Just found out I lost another RFP bid – the fourth loss in the last month or so. What bothers me the most about these government RFPs is the language they use. In the last three…
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