It's The Economy, Stupid

Before you mistake this blog as an appeal for New Brunswickers to stay home this winter (i.e. is it ‘right’ to migrate to Florida), don’t. It’s not. It’s in reference to professor Richard Florida whose thinking is sweeping the economic…

In the early 1990s, then Premier of New Brunswick Frank McKenna struck a partnership with NBTel (now Aliant) to attract call centres to the province. Each party contributed financial support and human resources to the initiative. The partnership was highly…

The title of this blog is not a typo or misspelling. The goal of this blog is to recommend that Dieppe (and Greater Moncton) learn from the successes of the past decade and expand the environment for that success to…

I occassionally get the chance to listen to the weekly political panel on CBC radio. Last week, the three panelists discussed a variety of issues including a debate on the new poll suggesting that Liberal leader Shawn Graham is now…

In previous blogs, I have been documenting the fact that both Nova Scotia and PEI have been outpacing New Brunswick on most key economic indicators since the late 1990s. A new Statistics Canada report out last week highlights this trend…

If I had a nickel for every time an economic development made this statement. Governments don’t create jobs, industry creates jobs. The only problem with that statement is that it is patently untrue. Governments do create jobs – millions of…

Canadian Business magazine recently ranked Moncton as the best city for business in Canada (outside Quebec – two small cities in that province had better scores). Regardless of the fact that their methodology was biased in favour of small cities…

Consumer products maker Colgate-Palmolive Co. plans to cut its worldwide work force by about 12 per cent and their Moncton warehouse will be closed by the end of April 2005. It is an especially hard pill to swallow when a…

As you may have read in the paper yesterday, Canada’s students scored quite well in the recent international comparison of educational outcomes. The 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) prepared by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)…

The value of building permits issued in a jurisdiction is generally considered to be a good indicator of whether or not an economy is growing or declining. Building permits are issued when there is new construction (either residential or commercial)…