You have to tip your hat to Premier Higgs. No other premier has ever taken on the Employment Insurance program as he has. Most NB politicians avoid publicly taking on the program because so many voters use it. Just ask…
Continue ReadingEvolving the Growing Pains podcast
Coming Soon: Insights with Don Mills and David Campbell part of the growing Huddle Podcast Network. For the last eight months the Growing Pains podcast has engaged leaders from across Atlantic Canada on issues related to the region’s future prosperity. …
Continue ReadingHow did I miss this? How did you? New Brunswick’s housing crisis
Annual housing starts in New Brunswick dropped by between 30% and 45% between 2015 and 2019 compared to previous periods. The good news is that 2020 saw a rebound. This at a time when population growth was starting to take…
Continue ReadingTop down or bottom up? Two different approaches to economic development.
I get a fair amount of questions from reporters and others about the impact of federal fiscal policy, the role of monetary policy to shore up the economy or the impact of governments running large fiscal deficits. Sometimes I get…
Continue ReadingThe cool kids are all over on Substack. I guess I should be there too.
The cool kids are all over on Substack so I have decided to take the plunge. Most people don’t realize that I have been writing the It’s the Economy, Stupid! blog for over 16 years. I started writing in 2004…
Continue ReadingWill Shawn Graham’s 2026 population target actually be reached?
One of the things I (and many others) complain about is government ‘targets’. I am concerned about economic and demographic targets but this applies to any target set by government (e.g. we will reduce surgery wait times by x). I…
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