Natural resource industries will continue to play an important role in New Brunswick but will likely never be as important to the economy as in the past. This idea of loosening up the rules around mining exploration and crossing our…
Continue ReadingEconomic development Übermensch
Given the resignation of Steve Dempsey from the Greater Halifax Partnership and the fact we have an acting DM at Business New Brunswick, I thought I would dust off and tweak my qualifications for running a large economic development organization.…
Continue ReadingGroan
How come I am forced to read this headline in the T&T: “Retail drives Metro’s success“. I can’t believe that this article quotes a UdeM economist suggesting that Moncton’s economic success is due to retail – although I find the…
Continue ReadingLove in the time of Recession
The Globe has a couple of stories today about how rich provinces in Canada handle economic tough times. It’s a bit like when Spock does the Vulcan mind meld on the Horta. “Pain, Pain!”. Story #1: B.C. Premier demands single…
Continue ReadingAt what point does the auto bailout go over the top?
I am a big believer in a return on investment approach to economic development. I don’t know how else we can justify spending tax payer dollars in this area unless it can be shown to provide a return on that…
Continue ReadingFrench immersion: redux
I still think we haven’t had the proper discussion about french immersion in the schools and about bilingualism in general. For the past 40 years or so, bilingualism in New Brunswick has meant a serious effort to ensure there are…
Continue ReadingThat tricky wage thing
You know me. I love to stir the pot a bit. The following table (taken from Stats Can) shows the average annual employment income (from the 2006 Census) for three jobs: general doctors, senior government managers and everyone. These figures are…
Continue ReadingNew journalism
Jacques Poitras over at the CBC has brought political journalism in New Brunswick into real time. He live tweets (twitters?) from the Legislature when it is sitting. The Spin Reduxit blog is also a reflective look at the politics of…
Continue ReadingMoncton on YouTube
In my opinion this is a pretty impressive powerpoint presentation/video on Greater Moncton’s evolution over the past 15-20 years. Have a look.
Continue ReadingOpposition needs to come up with new ideas
I’m a big believer in the importance of a strong opposition in the Legislature to provide oversight and keep the governing power on its toes. I had hoped that once the NB Tories elected their new leader, we would see…
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