There is an excellent article in the Economist this week in the rise of unmanned drones for civilian use. I was particularly interested to read that many U.S. cities are trying to convince the FAA to make them one of…
Continue ReadingWill the Internet kill the customer contact centre rep in New Brunswick?
The old song warned that “video killed the radio star”. While it may have looked like that might happen at the time – when MTV, et. al. roared on the scene – the death of radio was greatly exaggerated. In…
Continue ReadingCommunities need to think well ahead to head off plant closures
From a recent column I wrote in the TJ. This is an issue I think needs far more discussion. I recently had a long talk with a person involved in economic development in southern Ontario who was ranting and raving…
Continue ReadingOpportunity 2000: 2014 edition
I just watched the video that was prepared for the Opportunity 2000 conference that was held in Moncton – I think it was in 1989 – 25 years ago. The music, clothes, cars, etc. in that video look ancient but…
Continue ReadingMore failures, please
You want to know one of the main reasons why the Maritimes economy has underperformed the rest of Canada. Read this article. Rarely in the history of man has anyone gotten the cause and effect relationship so twisted around. A Halifax…
Continue ReadingSeeking a $4.1 billion GDP boost in New Brunswick
Dominic Cardy would scrap the Department of Economic Development and put the money into ‘small business’. Brian Gallant is planning to make New Brunswick the Smart Province. Premier Alward is chipping away. What we need to know is the strategy…
Continue ReadingMuckraking ain’t what it used to be
It is kind of interesting to see the little rift within the journalism community over shale gas development. The Philip Lee / Halifax Media Co-op dust up is a good example. I wrote a bit about this a while ago…
Continue ReadingEncouraging ambitious young NBers to think entrepreneurship
My column this morning in the TJ discussed an idea that I have been kicking around in recent months. We know that a lot of really bright young New Brunswickers leave the province because they “can’t find a good job…
Continue ReadingComplaining about economic development: 7 themes
Just about every time there is a new jobs announcement (there were two this week related to IT companies expanding in New Brunswick), I’ll either get disgruntled emails, have cranky conversations or read about why this is a bad thing…
Continue ReadingMaking wise decisions in an age of information overload: 21Inc edition
From a recent column in the TJ: A few months ago Nadine Duguay, Executive Director of 21 Inc., asked me if I would be interested in speaking at the Emerging Leaders Summit. The 50 Emerging Leaders program is an initiative…
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