My favourite NB economist (turned court reporter?), Kurt Peacock, mentioned my blog “It’s the economy, stupid” in his TJ column yesterday. I presented to a group in Halifax yesterday where the person who introduced me made some nice comments about…
Continue ReadingNew household spending data reveals interesting trends
One of my favourite Stats Can surveys is the household spending survey because you get the minutiae of how the average household spends its money and the results can be kind of interesting. Only one province spends less of its avg. household…
Continue ReadingThe docs are against hydraulic fracturing
I just read the CBC article about New Brunswick’s docs coming out calling for a moratorium on shale gas development. They are definitely at the vanguard on this. When BC just announced its new energy strategy which has hydraulic…
Continue Reading10 year absenteeism trends in Canada
More statistics on absenteeism for your review. Provincial Comparison: Total, days lost (excluding maternity leave) – 2011 Both sexes/Total, all industries/15 years and over Days: 2001-11 % Change Saskatchewan 11.0 11.1% New Brunswick 10.8 5.9% Quebec 10.8 18.7% Nova…
Continue ReadingWorkforce Absenteeism New Brunswick
My column in the TJ tomorrow covers the new absenteeism data for New Brunswick and the other provinces. I don’t do much speculation on the reasons why absenteeism is higher in New Brunswick (subjective) but I do say the…
Continue ReadingMore economic growth, more charity?
In a forthcoming column, I am talking about the new Statistics Canada data on charitable giving across the country – using taxfiler data. I won’t replicate that content here but I will point out a few interesting findings in the…
Continue ReadingEasy to say, hard to do
Brian Gallant, the dewy-eyed dragon slayer running to lead the provincial Libs, wrote an op/ed recently where he elegantly called for ‘real’ consultation of the people and for government that goes beyond four year cycles. I wonder if Bernard Lord’s…
Continue ReadingOde to New Brunswick?
As part of the Greater Moncton Chorale, I sang with Kim Stockwood at the ECMAs on Sunday night. We sang Ode to Newfoundland. Another singer sang about having to leave her native Nova Scotia and the pangs of regret…
Continue ReadingThe feds giveth and taketh
I have pointed out before that the federal government was a significant source of employment growth in New Brunswick over the past decade. They cut hard in the 1990s and then added back almost 2,000 high paying jobs from 2000…
Continue ReadingReducing the growth in public spending will be hard
The following chart shows economic growth in Canada on a per capita basis during the ‘boom’ years of 1999 to 2008. I put this chart together to illustrate an important point. The government sector grew strongly during that decade but…
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