Well, it looks like New Brunswick's chances at having a home grown Prime Minister have taken a dive once again. It wasn't that long ago that some were speculating (i.e. Don Desserud) that we could have a McKenna vs. Lord show down in federal politics. But with Frank departing and Lord out of the picture, I don't expect to see a PM from New Brunswick any time soon.

I appreciate Frank's decision. It must be a tough life - politics that is but I would like to think that he would have been a friend of NB at the national stage. I'd like to think that, although in a different way, he would have continued to promote economic development in New Brunswick and in Atl. Canada generally.

Well, maybe Lord will end up in the big chair after all. Maybe Harper will falter. Maybe the Libs will win in two years. Maybe Lord will run. Maybe he will win the party leadership. Maybe he will win the PMship.

That's a lot of maybes.

I have written on several ocassions about the government's convenient use of the energy sector to brag about New Brunswick's exports. They claim to have the highest increase in exports in Canada. Prosperity abounds!

They forget to mention that without the new Irving Refinery we have among the worst export performance in Canada and our trusty mainstream media cheerfully neglects to mention this as well.

So, for the benefit of the few hundred that ocassionally read this blog, here's a few interesting tidbits.

According to the New Brunswick government's own publications, New Brunswick exports $3.4 billion in energy products each year - this is mostly the Irving refinery. This represents a whopping 45% of the entire exports of the province. Now, the interesting thing is that we import $2.9 billion in energy products per year - about 60% of our total imports. Again, the vast majority of this is the oil brought into the refinery to be processed and shipped out.

So what we have is something like have the import/export level in the entire province being fuelled (no pun intended) by a few hundred workers in Saint John.

If you back out energy, New Brunswick would have an absolutely woeful export performance.

Food for thought, folks.

Here's a letter to the editor that was published in the Telegraph-Journal last weekend:

N.B. is becoming a francophone state

The "Patent Acadien" is working: divide and conquer. Slowly but surely, New Brunswick is being subverted into a francophone state. Enforced bilingualism has English-speaking New Brunswickers learning French, in vain hope of sharing in "equal opportunity."

The result was inevitable: French is the dominant language of government in Fredericton, and French is the dominant language of business in Moncton.

Any person who attempts to preserve English heritage is branded a bigot. Any person who promotes French heritage is hailed as a "patriote." Anyone who does not believe this had better wake up and smell the 'poutines.'

Some guy from Sackville.

Now, I have a couple of points to make here:

1. Some unilingual English speaking people in Moncton have trouble finding a job - particularly in industries where it is beneficial to speak French too (i.e. customer service). This is not vitriol, it is not bigotry, it is simply a fact.

2. The writer of this editorial (and the 10-12 the TJ publishes a year - just because..) should not confuse the labour market requirement for 35% of Monctonians to speak French with attempts to turn NB into a Francophone state. If that is the wish of Acadians, they had better get crackin'. From 1991 to 2001, the population of mother tongue French in New Brunswick dropped by 2%. Just to reiterate - that's dropped by 2% while the mother tongue English population increased by 1%.

The reality is that the Acadian population is suffering from the same economic malaise as the Anglo population - and Acadians, though reluctant to leave, are leaving the province to find better opportunity elsewhere.

So the comment I have for the TJ and everyone else that thinks 'NB is becoming a Francophone state' is that New Brunswick is becoming a 'no-aphone' state. When the Census comes out next year, you can bet your last poutine that the population of both anglos and francos will have declined again.

Oh, and one more thing about this dastardly attempt to Francocize New Brunswick. From 1991 to 2001, there were 24,475 Anglophones living in New Brunswick that moved in from other parts of Canada and there were only 7,060 Francophones.

So to sum up. The Francohpone population is declining. The Anglophone population is slightly increasing. Almost 25,000 Anglophones moved to New Brunswick from 1991 to 2001 (presumably some for a job) while only 7,000 Francophones moved to New Brunswick.


So to the guy from the wonderful town of Sackville, don't fret. No one's going to force you to eat poutine any time soon.

I didn't see the print copy of the T&T yesterday, but the online version is a bit depressing if you are a New Brunswicker interested in the economic development of our province.

Here's the top three stories from the online version of the T&T:


Times & Transcript
January 28, 2006
Michelin proceeds with $92M expansion of N.S. tire plant
More offshore oil exploration planned for N.S.
'Activist investor' prepares for $100M shopping spree
Halifax businessman wants to use money to rebuild companies hurt by cost-cuttingWith $100 million tucked away, George Armoyan plans to take his holding company Clarke Inc. (TSX:CKI) on a buying spree, with East Coast mogul John Risley ready to join in.


Now, I am sure that some of you will remind me that I also reported on these stories (two of three) recently in this blog.

But it's a bit drepressing when the recent economic development stories in New Brunswick include: Business New Brunswick Minister Mesheau suggesting that the RIM project in Halifax was 'too big' for New Brunswick or how about the Minister's comments last week that attracting 1,500 jobs to New Brunswick was going to be 'very difficult' or something to that effect.

Then our trusty local paper, the T&T, reams off story after story about economic development in Nova Scotia.

Just for balance, I expect Al Hogan to do another I Love Lord piece on the editorial page in the next few days.

Just for balance.

Last month, I wrote about the move to shift power rate increases from residences to industrial users.

Now, I am reading about business leaders, industry associations and even unions decrying this move. One union rep said he 'didn't want to become an Albertan' - a not so subtle reference to what would happen when the forestry industry collapses.

Ain't economic development neat? Announce a $250 million bailout for the forestry sector in December and what will ultimately amount to $500 million or more in increased energy costs (over five years).

That's the same logic that was used when they cut personal tax rates by a bit and then increased gas taxes such that the net for the average NBer was about nil.

Always the pragmatic, I continue to say: what's next? Mismanagement at NB Power (or bad luck) has led to the fastest increases in power rates in Canada. Low industrial rates were held up by the McKenna government as a benefit for businesses to set up shop here. Now that's gone. This will impact both existing business and our ability to attract more.

So, what's next? Now we will have to turn our attention to industries that don't need cheap power.

We face the real possibility of an even increased out-migration over the next 5-10 years unless we get serious about the economy. Don't forget that we have had 14 straight years of out-migration already.

Maybe when the new PM gets over the flu, he'll swoop down and save us :-)

Not likely.

But before I go, I'll give you the good news. Michelin just announced a $92 million expansion of its Waterville plant in Nova Scotia. Crossley Carpets justed finished a 150 person expansion at their Truro manufacturing plant. An article in Today's Trucking this month is reporting that the Port of Halifax is poised for a major breakthrough.

But never fear. We have the Prosperity Plan which will bring riches for all.

In recent days I have stated two key issues related to economic development: 1) Don't rely on government jobs to drive growth (this in response to the fact that something like 40% of the net new jobs in New Brunswick are from health, education and public administration) and 2) the need to focus on a few key sectors.

Well, it would seem that the VP of Microsoft agrees with me. Check out what he said recently in Scotland:

Microsoft chief tells Scots: focus on games
The Scotsman
January 27, 2006

BOB McDowell, vice-president of software giant Microsoft, yesterday warned one of the Scottish Parliament's most influential economic committees, to "make sure the public sector does not represent the majority of growth" in Scotland.

Offering his thoughts on a future Scottish economy, McDowell - who spearheaded Microsoft's expansion into Scotland in the mid-1990s and is now the company's leading international spokesman on how to get a financial return on IT investment - praised the Scottish brand as "truly recognised worldwide".

But he said that if the country was to make its mark "it has to act now" to focus hard on far fewer sectors. He highlighted video games, food and intellectual property as prime candidates, but suggested there was still not enough effective commercialisation of the country's education sector, adding the country's biggest employers are playing too small a role in shaping what business skills are taught in schools and universities.

"There aren't many people in the world who would think about Scotland in a negative way, but the down side of being small is that you can't afford too many mistakes," he warned.

Speaking to the cross-party group on the economy, McDowell - who has more than 30 years' experience in the technology sector and serves on the International Advisory Board of Scottish Enterprise - said the games industry should become "one of Scotland's main focuses".

In a week when the country suffered yet another hi-tech inward investment disaster in the shape of the US computer printer maker Lexmark closing its factory in Rosyth, the former US defence department official and Ernst & Young partner said Scotland must effectively walk away from major IT manufacturing in the future, in favour of R&D or more specialist areas, such as technology patenting.

Microsoft installed its first director in Scotland, Raymond O'Hare, in 2004, and last year signed an exclusive deal with Dundee-based games firm Real Time Worlds last summer for the rights to its new game, "Crackdown", which is being developed for the next generation of Xbox.

Crackdown is due to be released in June and McDowell called the game - the development of which instantly meant Real Time expanded its workforce by 30 per cent to make it the biggest independent games company in Scotland - one of the "most important consumer products in our history" and said the Scottish technology sector should be encouraged to "focus on just that kind of deal".

He added: "Scotland's brand is strong, but the challenges now are to make certain that only the best pieces of Scotland are emphasised. Concentrating on local wealth creation is critical but you have to make sure the public sector does not represent the majority of growth."

A self-confessed food lover, McDowell said restaurants such as The Three Chimneys on the Isle of Skye and Number One in Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel, were "world class" and evidence of the "market strength you've got in this country around culinary expertise".

On education, which McDowell called "a requirement for all to be successful", he urged more involvement by business in the "intellectual horsepower" being developed throughout the country.

"Scotland must try to decrease the gap between business and education. Education should be viewed as a factory with business as its biggest customers, and it should decide what it builds," he said.

McDowell suggested that instead of the country's universities and colleges attempting to sell their knowledge or develop spin-outs, the sector would be better served by "marketing the education sector as a whole".

He added: "Critical mass grows business - group the successes in one place and focus on a few areas."


Sounds pretty good to me.

I just read a very interesting story in the Toronto Star (sorry requires a password so no link here). Here's an excerpt:

South of the Canada-American border, there is serious talk about a "New Homestead Act" that would sell houses — or perhaps even farmland — at low prices to those willing to settle in, or around, small plains towns.

In Kansas, there are rural action co-operatives whose members don't just complain about declining population, but actively seek out people who might be interested in moving there, then energetically write, email and call them.


Now, call me crazy but wouldn't that be neat if folks in rural New Brunswick were actually calling folks on the phone and inviting them to move to rural NB. Wouldn't it be neat if the government would provide incentives and get interested in attracting folks to rural NB.

But, I suspect that after 20 years of doing something innovative in Kansas, it might actually take hold here.

I continue to be disturbed by the message coming out of the province when it comes to attracting business investment to New Brunswick.

A recent Telegraph-Journal article made the following statement:

In a letter to the editor published last month in the Telegraph-Journal, Mr. Mesheau argued the province was one of the top performers across the country - landing 44 foreign direct investment projects between 2000 and 2004. Nova Scotia lagged with 32 while P.E.I. and Newfoundland lured eight a piece.

"Actually," the minister wrote, "statistics demonstrate that New Brunswick ranks 4th in the country just behind Ontario, Quebec and Alberta."

The Atlantic Provinces Economic Council, though, argues differently - it says the province is in fact dead last in bringing in foreign investment over those four years. By measuring foreign investment against total investment dollars flowing into the province, it determined that foreign interests controlled only a five per cent share.


I have written alot about this in recent months. It seems that the provincial government believes its own marketing schtick - and that is a sad state of affairs indeed.

It is vitally important to project a positive marketing image when promoting New Brunswick in global markets. But that is exactly the wrong thing to do when looking inward and looking at policy development.

If the province is doing such a good job at attracting jobs, why are we among the worst in Canada for attracting investment? Further, and even more disturbing, when you back out call centre jobs there is almost nothing left. Not to denegrate call centre jobs but that well will eventually run dry and there seems to be no strategy at all to attract any companies in any other sector.

Nova Scotia has moved beyond call centres and is attracting higher end IT companies like RIM, Versata and a financial services firm from Bermuda.

PEI has developed a very significant aerospace cluster.

New Brunswick has developed......

Minister Mesheau would be well advised to get beyond defending the government record and start looking at developing some successful new industry attraction strategies.

Stephen Harper was coy on his 'plans' for Atlantic Canada other than a few specifics around the military and not trashing ACOA. He did mention on numerous ocassions that the federal government needs to help Atl. Can reach its 'full potential' whatever that may be.

Now once Harper is through instituting marshall law, rolling back 'basic human rights' to the '1500s' and bringing us into the US fold, he can take some time for Atl. Canada (don't you love election time invective? but I digress).

Given he has a tenuous minority government, my suspicion is that Atl. Canada won't even be on the radar - bigger fish to fry and all that rot.

But if it finds its way in, I hope they take five minutes to understand the role of capital to economic development. Five minutes to realize that the global investment flow has bypassed Atlantic Canada for the better part of the last 100 years. Five minutes to understand the underlying reasons for that (well, that might take 10) such as cutting off Atl. Canada from trade with the billions invested in the St. Lawrence Seaway or the slow erosion of financial decision making from Atl. Canada to Central Canada or the fact that the national government played a highly proactive role in the stimulation of an auto sector in Ontario, an aerospace sector in Quebec, an IT sector in Greater Ottawa, an agrifood sector in western Canada, a dense immigration in BC, etc. etc. etc. while you have to look long and hard to find any proactive sector development in Atl. Canada (with the exception of the seed money for the offshore sector in NL).

If they take this five minute look, they may conclude as I have that we need to grow up a few new industries to replace the ones that are dying. We need to grow up new industries to fund our ever expanding social programs. We need to grow up new industries to limit our vast reliance on the Equalization system.

We can't let Atl. Canada slowly erode away while the citizens continue to expect more and more social spending. It is a recipe for collapse.

Welcome to Atl. Canada, PM Harper.

Like most of my colleagues, I went into this election cycle a little curious. I never did buy the notion that the Conservative's approach to regional development would involve sucking every talented resource out to Fort McMurray, consolidating three governments into one and saying "stand on your own two feet". (although some of my more impatient colleagues actually agree with this model, but I digress)

At the same time, I have never bought into the notion that the Liberals have brought great prosperity to Atlantic Canada. In fact, I am not sure that even the Liberals believe this.

So, I looked closely for any hint of economic development strategy and have concluded the following:

The Liberals, if re-elected, will continue to do mostly the same in Atlantic Canada. 'Innovation', small businesses and 'community building'. Paul Martin stumped through Atl. Canada basically telling us how good we have had it under the Libs.

The Conservatives have not said much about Atl. Canada and economic development. Harper won't scrap ACOA. Harper is 'committed to helping Atlantic Canada reach its potential'. Well, that's easy to say during a campaign but don't forget this region has been 'declining' relative to the rest of Canada since before Harper's oft mentioned relatives settled in New Brunswick.

So having said all that, I would have liked to had heard one of the parties talk about a 'revolution' in Atl. Canada. An Irish-style transformation where Canada (like the EU in Europe) invests billions into infrastructure, industry development, etc. into this region over a 25 year time frame. Where if Microsoft sets up a 1,500 person facility in Halifax, the rest of Canada cheers not complains. Where if hundreds of US firms turn their gaze onto this region, the rest of Canada cheers not complains. This was exactly the case in Ireland. As that country boomed in the late 1990s, the EU kept the funds flowing (remember that Germany, France, et. al have economic challenges of their own).

Imagine that.

So, I won't shed too many tears if the Libs lose today. There won't be dire consequences (although I understand the Liberal strategy to scare voters as a tactic). The economy will limp along. And maybe, just maybe, a fresh set of eyes on this thing may end up being good for the region.

And if Harper slashes EI and pays people to move to Fort McMurray?

Ask me if/when he does it.

A common complaint at the provincial government level and at the municipal level is that their big buddies at the higher level of government like to download services without proper funding.

Well, we are now seeing this in a fashion when it comes to the attraction of business to New Brunswick.

In the 1990s, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism had a fairly strong team of sales guys/gals out promoting New Brunswick and of course the lead sales guy, Frank McKenna, was especially active in this area.

Local economic development agencies did not do much 'investment attraction' back then. They basically made sure that when the provincial government brought a company to town that they 'took over the sales pitch' at the local level.

But, somewhat slowly, since 1999 the local communities have felt compelled to take on this function directly. Now most local economic development agencies have an 'investment attraction' function and a sales guy/gal. Check out Fredericton's new approach here.

Now, I have no problem with this. In fact, I may have been the first economic development person in New Brunswick to work for a local economic development agency exclusively mandated to work on the investment attraction file.

However, investment attraction is like big game hunting. Or if you like similar to selling aircraft or other million or even billion dollar products. It takes top shelf sales guys/gals that have big budgets and long time horizons (you don't sell a Boeing aircraft over night - the typical sales cycle can be 3-5 years or more). It takes senior executive commitment - from the boss on down.

So to the local economic development agencies I say bravo. But I hope there is a crackerjack team of professionals at Business New Brunswick to work with. I hope there are a dozen or so sales guys/gals stationed in top markets such as India. I hope that CEO of this province and his counterpart at the mother ship are in agreement as to the importance of this division.

The issue of subsidies - of any form - to industry continues to be a controversial activity (except for agriculture where the majority of Canadians seem to be highly supportive).

In fact, I am even opposed to subsidization of bad business models and companies with limited growth potential just to postpone the problem another few years.

I am even opposed to the general idea of corporate subsidies - if every jursidiction played by the same rules.

However, they don't.

And more often than not, New Brunswick gets the shaft because we 'can't compete' on corporate incentives. This posture has been repeated by government officials since the days of McKenna and I suspect long before.

A new report out by Counterpoint Market Intelligence out of the UK suggests that lucrative incentive programs have been critical to the development of aerospace clusters around the world including the US, Canada and in Europe. In fact, about Canada, this article states:

Canada also comes in for comment as “one of the success stories for state funding of aerospace”, having claimed fourth place in the global line-up with a “particularly generous research and development regime in terms of the tax credit and the breadth of eligible costs”.

I have seen similar research praising government for investing billions into the auto sector in Ontario.


Problem is, what sector are we investing in a 'particularly generous' way in New Brunswick?

Employment insurance, if you can call that a sector.

Public services (40% of all new jobs created since 1999) - but I don't think that creating public sector jobs is an overly practical long term economic development strategy.

Any other sectors? Anyone?

I have been saying in this blog that New Brunswick needs to harness the growth of India's outsourcing market by becoming a 'nearshore' partner with Indian firms. I have said that we should be attracting India's top firms to establish these nearshore facilities in our province.

Well, nobody in New Brunswick is listening but Quebec has gotten the message - most likely not from this blog, however :-)

Here's an article that was published in a major Indian newspaper last week:

Quebec keen to attract Indian investments
Sunday, 22 January , 2006, 09:06

Kolkata: The Quebec Premier, Jean Charest, has said his country will focus on enhancing the Indo-Quebec bilateral trade, attracting Indian investment in the largest Canadian province and networking Quebec universities with Indian educational institutions.

Charest, who is the first-ever Quebec Premier to visit India, was in the city in connection with the CII Partnership Summit. He is leading a delegation of 20 industrialists and 15 delegates from Quebec universities.

Reiterating his interests in attracting Indian investment, he specially referred to the Tata group-controlled VSNL, which is in the process of concluding a $240-million acquisition of Teleglobe in Montreal.

Now, several large Indian firms have already established in Ontario. Now Quebec is on the bandwagon.

Will New Brunswick ever get on board?

In the late 1980s, Frank McKenna along with his counterpart in Manitoba were the only provinces aggressively pursuing call centres. By the late 1990s all provinces were.

The message in this is self-evident. New Brunswick has to be in front of the curve - not on the back end.

I have been tracking a number of signs that Indian firms are ready to invest in North America and Europe - some reported on these pages.

I have been tracking that Sweden, South Africa and others have been going to India looking for these types of partnerships.

The signs have been around us for 18 months.

And we are being trumped by Quebec and Ontario.

Welcome to economic development in New Brunswick circa 2006.

I'm in Quebec to see a client.

First point. Don't always trust MapQuest.com. I downloaded directions and ended up on the other side of the city from my hotel.

Second point. Who is Gilles Duceppe? Driving through Quebec in riding after riding there would be a few token signs showing the local BQ candidate and three times and many large billboards with a hunk-like Gilles Duceppe. I seem to recall in the mid 1990s Liberal signs in New Brunswick where the candidates were pictured with Frank McKenna but I can't remember an election where the Federal leader was the lead candidate at the local level.

Third point. I drove through the heart of Maine from Bangor to Quebec and I have to admit (you know me by now) I began to look for new housing. There were dozens of little towns. Maybe thousands of houses all through there (a 130+ mile drive) but I couldn't find a single new house. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing a house built in the last 20 years from outside Saint John through Saint Stephen through to Bangor and over to Quebec.

Now, I didn't drive off the main road but still......

Some time in our history, something -some economic activity necessitated the building of hundreds of rural towns all over Atlantic Canada, Maine, Quebec - heck everywhere.

But what about now?

For those obsessed with polls, it seems the trend in this federal election is mirroring last year - with the exception that it started a little late.

The new Leger poll puts the Tories up by 9%. The Strategic Counsel shows a big 4% drop to a 9% lead. SES, the daily tracking poll, has the Tories ahead by only 6% (with a +/- 5% range).

If the Tories drop 3%-4% per day between now and Monday, presto! Liberal minority again.

Possible?

Well, remember that I have a horrible track record when it comes to picking elections so I will pass. But a colleague of mine believes that the UBC Election Stock Market is among the most accurate predictors and they are still calling for a Tory minority with 127 seats to 96 for the Libs.

David Beurle, from Melbourne, Australia is considered to be one of the world's leading experts in community development - particularly small communities. He was the keynote speaker at the Anchors Away conference in Iowa recently.

Beurle cited a phenomenon in which people from California and the East Coast, for example, are moving to the Midwest because of social and environmental issues. "The values shift I see in America is leaning toward family," Beurle said. "Today people want to be able to make a change."Beurle, who has provided consulting services for Emmetsburg and Hartley and Jackson, Minn., said that a community of even just 1,000 population has a potential annual expendable income of $15 million.

Smaller communities need to address synergy, vision and partnerships within their communities. One of the downsides of rural leadership programs, unfortunately, said Beurle, "is that people up and go." Volunteer leaders may find themselves carrying the whole weight and experience "burn out".Economic development requires new creativity where new ideas can flourish," said Beurle. "I always come at it from why do you live here," Beurle said. "People can connect the dots. You just need to show them how to connect the dots."Community leaders need to make their communities attractive places to live and to provide jobs. And, due to people in urban areas feeling the need for a "sea change" in a more values-oriented culture, the development potential for rural America is not a matter of "if" but "when".

And those communities that are ready to accommodate new people will be the first to succeed, Beurle said."I think we're seeing the tip of the iceberg in rural America," Beurle said.

"Metropolitan urban America is becoming increasingly less attractive for people."As a case in point, Beurle said he has found people in western North Dakota who migrated from California. Others migrated from the Minneapolis and Chicago areas to the rural Midwest.

I stubbornly stick to the notion "if you build it, they will come" which for me has traditionally meant jobs.

Beurle focuses on building welcoming and attractive communities.

Maybe he's got a point there. Is Tracadie a warm and welcoming place? Do we embrace new people in Minto? How about Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton?

Maybe we should put a renewed focus on the 'values' and attractiveness of our communities and the promote that too the world.

Maybe.

The Great Paul Martin Credibility Hunt
We’re giving away return airfare and hotel accommodation to any country Paul Martin used to avoid Canadian taxes, labour laws and environmental regulations – while he was finance minister – by flying other countries’ flags on his ships. From Barbados to tiny Vanuatu in the South Pacific to human-rights-abusive Liberia, Paul Martin’s company wandered the globe to find flags of convenience to fly. And if you can prove his values are more than convenient, too, you’re going on vacation to see for yourself. We’ll be announcing the winner on Friday, January 20.


Sorry for the rant. Hope Harper turns out to be a thoughtful PM that takes regional development - particularly Atl. Canada - seriously. Hope there is some critical thinking about old policies that have been more or less in place for 30 years. Hope somebody looks at the successful economic development stories in Canada and they says how can we do that in Atl. Canada.

For PM (name or professional initials), I hope he goes out with dignity. Hopefully, most people will remember him for being a good finance minister. Hopefully, Mr. Dithers will be relegated to the dustbin of our collective history.

Like 'em or hate 'em, Moncton's Petitcodiac Riverkeeper must be considered a successful lobby group. The issue of removing the causeway from Moncton to Riverview was a backburner issue before the Riverkeeper rolled up its sleeves and got to work.

Now 11 of 12 regional candidates for the Federal government have backed federal funding to remove the causeway and the Premier has made it one of his issues in his Accelerating Prosperity plan (not sure how that will accelerate prosperity but that's another issue).

My point is that a well-organized, properly funded lobby group can still get results in New Brunswick. The toll busters was another similar lobby group.

So, the next logical step is to ask where are the lobbyists for the economy?

The local Chambers of Commerce should be the typical candidate for such lobbying but I have not seen a strongly worded rebuke of government policy in this area in a long time.

Industry associations have had mixed success. The forestry lobby received a package recently but what about the IT industry lobby? According to my research, while some 100,000 jobs have been created in Canada in the IT and related sectors since 1999, there have been almost none in New Brunswick. As a reward for this success, it seems that the IT industry groups seem to be very thankful. Anything I read tends to be very positive.

The Canadian Federation for Independent Business (CFIB) seems to be very effective getting its small business message across. The government has cut taxes for this group.

But who is lobbying for the attraction of business investment? If not the chambers and industry groups, then who?

Maybe when Daniel LeBlanc is done over at the Riverkeepers, we can recruit him to lobby for the province.

Heck, the survival of the provincial economy should be at least as important as the Petitcodiac river, no?