In the past few months I have had a larger number than usual of people reaching out to seek my advice or to ask about job opportunities at Jupia Consultants. Many hope I can refer them to someone that has…
Continue ReadingA kind of Hippocratic Oath for economic development
There is a lot of debate about what the role of government should be to support economic development. Some prefer a highly interventionist state while others would like government with a light touch. Maybe we should have a kind of…
Continue ReadingEconomic development and the New Brunswick election
I used to gently poke fun at New Brunswickers about their voting preferences. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s they would consistently tell pollsters their top concerns were jobs and the economy (and, typically, health care) and, yet, when it…
Continue ReadingOn Saint John the Exporter: Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss
As Sam croons in Casablanca, sometimes a kiss is just a kiss, a smile is just a smile. Sometimes a data point is just a data point. We can certainly unpack it, analyze it, set it in context, look at…
Continue ReadingBusiness closings as a result of Covid-19: First available data
Statistics Canada has come out with “experimental estimates for business openings and closures for Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas, seasonally adjusted”. The data is through April 2020 so we are starting to see how Covid-19 is impacting the…
Continue ReadingThank you for calling New Brunswick. How can I help you today?
A couple of years ago, international man of mystery, David Hawkins, conducted a series of focus groups with young people about what they thought of the ‘call centre’ industry as a career in New Brunswick. Most of the feedback he received…
Continue ReadingGet the economy blazing again? A review of the NS economy under Stephen McNeil
Stephen McNeil will be immortalized for telling everyone to “stay the blazes home” to stop the spread of Covid-19. The Premier announced he would be stepping down last week. How did the economy do under his leadership? Did it ‘blaze’?…
Continue ReadingHey Rip Van Winkle, if you are still stuck in 1970s New Brunswick, here are a few facts for you to consider
There is a young lady on social media who is elbowing her way around Saint John on something related to policing and Jacques Poitras had a story on her this a.m. She responded by posting the following commentary to her…
Continue ReadingNB economic growth: A couple of percentage points here or there, what’s the big deal?
I have been insisting in recent years that governments in Atlantic Canada should focus on getting their provincial economies back to pre-2008 rates of economic growth. Only PEI has come close to this objective. Between the long period 1983 and…
Continue ReadingA discussion with NOIA’s Charlene Johnson on the prospects for Newfoundland and Labrador oil and gas
On the Growing Pains podcast this week we interview Charlene Johnson, CEO of the province’s oil and gas industry association, NOIA. I have done some work with NOIA and therefore am familiar with the importance of the offshore oil and…
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