I attended the Premier’s State of the Province address last night. I think I have attended 8 or 9 of these things over the years and they are mostly the same – a broad rah rah session to convince people…
Continue ReadingMapping ED effort to an overall strategy
I know there is criticism of the Acadian Peninsula fund and just about every other fund used for economic development. I personally don’t have a problem using public funds to support economic development efforts if they lead to tangible economic…
Continue ReadingMandate creep
The TJ has an article today discussing the Acadian Peninsula Economic Development Fund. It mostly makes the case that a lot of money has been spent for a very small amount of jobs. I’m not going to critique this article…
Continue ReadingMight as well go for a SODA
Stephen Harper has created the Southern Ontario Development Agency (SODA) and given it $1 billion over five years. It’s kind of funny in a way. The Conservatives are approaching the challenges in southern Ontario as if it were Atlantic Canada. …
Continue ReadingEI in context
I just read Statistics Canada’s new Employment Insurance Claimant report covering November 2008. The number of regular EI beneficiaries increased in all jurisdictions compared with a year earlier. Ontario (+28.2%), British Columbia (+24.6%), Nunavut (+21.9%) and Yukon (+21.3%) posted the largest…
Continue ReadingBoeing/Atlantic Industry Days in Halifax
Does anyone know how many New Brunswick companies were at this?
Continue ReadingWhither UNB?
It will be interesting to see who gets chosen to lead UNB. I agree with Anthony Knight about the importance of that position and that institution. However, I continue to be an unapologetic one-trick-pony and I am a little disappointed…
Continue ReadingWhen the world is collapsing, where are you going to turn?
In my youth, I wasn’t much of a hockey player. My brother used to say that when he watched me skate he heard in his head the music from that old TV series The Dukes of Hazzard when the boys were…
Continue ReadingBetween grief and nothing… I’ll take grief
Let’s call this one your chuckle for the day. Someone sent me a short email saying “I’ll bet you are changing your mind about the importance of foreign investment now”. They were referencing a G&M story that Pfizer Inc. was…
Continue ReadingThe psychology of recession and implications for politicians
The TJ has a piece today about good old RB Bennet, the PM back in the Great Depression who was turfed in 1935. You can pull many messages out of this story but my thought was less about the depression…
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