Following on my previous blog, I want to reiterate that I don’t think that New Brunswick should try and compete with Ontario across the board. That is impossible. We don’t have the scale to do that.
No, I am saying we need to pick a few areas and compete – compete hard. So if we want a “Prosperity Institute”, we should pony up the $50 million.
Another example from our friends in Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia is introducing the most aggressive film tax credit in the country, Premier Rodney MacDonald told a packed house attending the 27th Atlantic Film Festival opening gala Thursday night. MacDonald announced that the province is increasing the film tax credit to 50 per cent from 35 per cent, prompting prolonged cheers from audience members, many of them clad in gowns and jewels. McDonald said the 50 per cent credit will apply to films shot in Halifax, and an additional 10 per cent will be given to films shot in rural Nova Scotia. There is already an additional 5 per cent credit for companies that shoot at least three films in the province over two years.
Now, I am not a big fan of the movie biz as an economic development tool but Nova Scotia has made a deliberate statement and decided to go right after Toronto and Vancouver for the film industry. New Brunswick should stop piddling around and do the same thing – in a few highly targeted areas.