The four horsemen of the vested interests. They are coming on strong around this issue of “post-secondary education reform”. This is a great example of how things don’t get done in New Brunswick. Anything remotely controversial like consolidating LSDs, reforming…
Continue ReadingBlogging from Freddy Beach
I’m in Fredericton today for a couple of meetings. I have a few minutes so I’ll serve up a quick blog with my Starbuck’s coffee. I spent most of my childhood in Fredericton. More specifically, Lincoln just outside of Freddy.…
Continue ReadingVolpeian logic redux
New 2006 Census data out today. Not much to report – just stuff about family structures. However, there is one chart that I found interesting. New Brunswick had the second fastest decline in the number of couple households with children.…
Continue ReadingNSBI – A Good Model
Some of you might accuse me of a conflict of interest because I have done some consulting work with NSBI. Fair enough but I have worked with over 30 different economic development agencies and studied numerous more. And I believe…
Continue ReadingIf you can’t beat ’em, join ’em
In my discussions with local economic development folks, inevitably many will bemoan the rise of the ‘offshore’ and how India is taking away call centre jobs and China is taking away manufacturing jobs and ultimately the question is asked “how…
Continue ReadingRandom stat
Everyone likes a random statistic or two. Here’s one. New Brunswick has now had 16 straight years of net out-migration (more moving out than in). Before that, the longest stretch of net out-migration was the nine year period between 1962-1971…
Continue ReadingAnd the band plays on
I got quite a bit of feedback – some posted publicly and others not – on the future of this blog. I have to admit I am losing some interest in the blog – not the subject matter – but…
Continue ReadingGood night, and good luck
Look folks. I am seriously thinking about shutting the blog down. I tried a few months ago but a lot of people I respect told me I was adding some value to the discourse and to keep it up. But…
Continue ReadingFredericton shuffle
Hey, hey, hey do the Freddy beach shuffle. I already got a couple of emails about my thoughts on the senior management shake up in Freddy Beach. Now, before I comment, let me lead with what the Premier said about…
Continue ReadingThis is stupid
Usually, the Canadian Press does a little more homework. Here is their story about the closure of Connect North America last week. It’s a reality check for job-hungry Maritime governments that actively recruited call centres in the 1990s to provide…
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