My wife and I decided to spend a few days in Spain. I’ve been working like a dog for about six months or so and we needed a little break. When we arrived, there was a general strike – so…
Continue ReadingTo the victor go the spoileds: Part 2
In the spirit of consistency I’ll say today what I said after Graham defeated Lord in 2006. Congratulations to the victor and I’ll thank Shawn Graham for his service to New Brunswick (and other losing candidates last night). Politics is…
Continue ReadingKrugman vs. Brooks
I real the editorial page of the New York Times just about every day. I am fascinated by the battle that plays out each week between the Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman and his nemesis David Brooks. Krugman is…
Continue ReadingMad men (and Women)
I had a long chat with a guy a couple of days ago who thinks this election cycle was the most acrimonious he had ever seen. I am not sure about that – I think we tend to forget the…
Continue ReadingChickens going down the road to roost
I have reported on these pages over the years about studies from Calgary and Ottawa-based think tanks arguing that the solution to Canada’s problems is more labour mobility. There was one study out of Ottawa that went further and recommended…
Continue ReadingMessage amplitude
This election cycle, there has been a lot of articles, commentaries, op/ed pieces, etc. about the complex fiscal, demographic and economic challenges facing New Brunswick. Even my stuff has been increasingly shrill (cough, cough). The problem is that it is…
Continue ReadingElection comments
It’s kind of strange but in 2006 there were a fairly large number of drive by commentators to this blog during the election cycle. The readership also spiked significantly. But this time around, there are almost no comments – except…
Continue ReadingIs economic development revenue neutral?
The NDP is saying economic development that generates increased taxes for government is ‘revenue neutral’ in terms of the province’s fiscal situation because the feds just ratchet down Equalization as own source revenue goes up. We have discussed this probably…
Continue ReadingDon’t mess with the Zohan
Comments on the article I wrote suggested I was wrong about the population decline in most of NB municipalites. You can disagree with me on interpretation, analysis – anything and most people do but you can’t argue with facts. The…
Continue ReadingSmall biz policy
We continue the debate about the role of small business and economic development. I suspect we will not come to a consensus any time soon. On the one hand, we have those who say “small business is the engine of…
Continue Reading