I’m trying to write using the Blackberry this morning. Am on my way to the nation’s capital but the kids wanted to stop off here. Read the recent thread between Vincerolly and Mikel below. That’s the kind of dialogue I…
Continue ReadingNo make work projects, please
I am 41 today. Getting old, I guess. Just a quick note on government subsidies to support job creation. I think we really must avoid giving out taxpayer money for short term make work projects. It seems to me they…
Continue ReadingFloridian virus takes hold
We have talked about Richard Florida here on several occasions but I really think that Florida’s approach is now going well beyond just creativity. Now we read a new Federal Reserve report that cities with “the things that make a…
Continue ReadingContinuing counterpoint
ADI is a great New Brunswick company and one of the few services-based firms that actually has markets outside New Brunswick. The vast majority of architecture, engineering and other professional services firms in the province only do work in the province. …
Continue ReadingGoin’ Down the Road
Confession time. I have actually never watched the movie Goin’ down the Road that I reference in my column today. It’s probably time to give it a look given all the rave reviews. But, again, I am not sure how much…
Continue ReadingWinter wonderland
Ever have one of those conversations that just blows you away. I toil away here every day in columns, blogs, reports for clients, conversations, etc. trying to expand the conversation around economic development far and wide. I ran into the…
Continue ReadingThe Doug Tyler Affair
The mystique. They mystery. A ‘lobbyist’ now working for the government. Ooooooh. The Opposition is some angry that Doug Tyler, former McKenna Minister has gone from lobbyist to senior government position. As if that hasn’t happened before. New Brunswick is…
Continue ReadingStop the insanity
Some folks, notably the Times & Transcript (surprise surprise) believe that any attempt to have a more rational approach to municipal government in this province is an attack on rural New Brunswick. That’s hogwash. The Finn report was a sensible…
Continue Reading2008 Economic Development Deal of the Year Awards
I want you to have a look at all of these deals – the winner, second and third place and all the honourable mentions. This is the kind of blockbuster economic development project that can help transform an economy. I…
Continue ReadingWhere’s our Federal government largesse?
Sometimes it is interesting to read foreign media and their coverage of Federal government ‘largesse’. This is a story in Scandinavian Oil-Gas magazine about the federal and provincial government money being poured into a Norwegian owned company in Quebec. The…
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