It was only a matter of time. Trying to profit from misfortune is as old as time itself. There are folks in the Miramichi that want to put direct flights from the Miramichi airport to Fort McMurray. I wonder if…
Continue ReadingThe tax conundrum
It seems odd for an economic developer to be urging caution when it comes to cutting corporate tax rates. But that is exactly what I am doing. This new survey proves my point. Halifax compared well with other cities around…
Continue ReadingBright but clouded
It doesn’t matter how smart a person is, lots of things can cloud their judgement and application of intellect to the problems of the day (including myself although at a much reduced intellectual level). Take this Mark Milke fellow from…
Continue ReadingNew chairman for the NBIF
Scroll down this article and read Lacey’s comments. Is there another NBIF that I am not familiar with? Bernard Lord set up the NBIF to be the catalyst for his goal of getting New Brunswick from last to third among…
Continue ReadingIt’s the economy, stupid podcast edition (July 27)
Here is the latest podcast edition of the blog. Hope you enjoy it. We are talking about energy, economic development policy and infrastructure – among other things. Hope you enjoy it.
Continue ReadingElectricity and economic development
I guess I am just a hopeless (helpless?) romantic when it comes to this stuff but I have long hoped that New Brunswick would get back to the day when it saw electricity as an economic development driver and a…
Continue ReadingReading about the Robber Barons
I just finished reading a long biography of Andrew Mellon, one of the so-called Robber Barons from around the turn of the last century. Mellon was a Pittsburgh banker who became what today would be a billionnaire by founding companies…
Continue ReadingThe folly of transposing social development policy with economic development policy
This should be a central theme in the discussion around economic development. I discuss it at a high level but I don’t know if we have ever really had a genuine debate about it. What I am talking about is…
Continue ReadingYou are what you eat
I just finished what I thought was an insightful column in the T&T on the economic challenges facing New Brunswick. They were written by Roger Haineault who works with a company called Tax Help Inc. – it would seem located…
Continue ReadingEducation and economic development
Someone pointed out to me that I should provide a link to my weekly column in the TJ. That’s a good idea – particularly when the column is meaty – as it is today. I talk about the lack of…
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