Did you know that there is natural gas out near Sussex in the McCully field? There is and in fact, the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan has been using that gas for its local operation for several years. Now a new…
Continue ReadingYou’ve gotta love the hansard
I now have an appreciation for what journalists covering the legislature have to deal with on a daily basis. There is almost a separate vocabulary the politicians use that intricately mixes non-answers, vague denials, double speak and teeth gritting irony.…
Continue ReadingFrank McKenna running for mayor
If you have been following my blog, you will know that I occasionally report on the status of Frank McKenna’s political ambitions. Frank McKenna, head of a business lobbying group in Liverpool, England, that is. Yes, old Frank is tired…
Continue ReadingFastest growing jobs in the US
The following is a table of the jobs that are expected to grow the fastest in the US from 2004-2014. These estimates were published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Almost all of the job categories are either health, IT…
Continue ReadingThe ‘power’ of economic development
The local media this morning is reporting that residential electricity customers won’t have to pay as big an increase for power next year as NB Power predicted in October The Public Utilities Board ruled on Wednesday that industrial users will…
Continue ReadingLet the blogging begin
Ok, a bunch of you have lamented the lack of discourse in the blogosphere related to economic development in this fine province. So, by popular demand, I have compiled a little list of blogs in cyberspace that at least touch…
Continue ReadingSometimes people aren’t as stupid as politicians think
The biggest move, by far, that the Conservative government has made in their seven years in power was the elimination of the toll highway. That cost us $600 million in capital and somthing like $60 million per year in lost…
Continue ReadingNorthern Europe and Nova Scotia
I have talked a lot about Research in Motion and other investment projects into Nova Scotia lately but we shouldn’t forget the Europeans. Last week, Swiss-based conglomerate Xstrata PLC agreed to partner on the development of the coal industry in…
Continue ReadingCollateral luck in economic development
When it comes to Moncton, Premier Lord must be thanking his lucky stars. Firstly, when he took power in 1999, the community was already growing strong. Then, during his tenure, a significant number of the call centres that are in…
Continue ReadingThe paternal Liberals
I am ever so slowly working my way through John Ibbitson’s Polite Revolution and so fair 100 or so pages in it has involved bashing Atlantic Canada and rural Canada bashing our ‘beliefs’, insinuating we are anti-immigration, and stating that…
Continue Reading