This is not something you want to see. New Brunswick had the steepest decline in manufacturing sales in November 2007: Every province reported decreased manufacturing sales in November, ranging from a 0.3% decline in Saskatchewan to a 31.5% drop in New Brunswick.…
Continue ReadingStacked with Grits?
It’s funny how some journalists can do a thorough analysis of the content for a story and then throw in a phrase like “stacked with Grits”. Here is the quote: Meanwhile the Telegraph-Journal has learned that the same consulting firm,…
Continue ReadingSkillsoft cutting jobs
The Daily Gleaner is reporting this morning that eLearning firm SkillSoft is cutting jobs in Fredericton. I once thought this industry would be a real economic driver for New Brunswick. One industry player in Fredericton told me in the late…
Continue ReadingMakin’ babies
Every year, Statistics Canada comes out with their new population estimates and every year we get experts weighing on how to counter the ‘aging’ population in New Brunswick. This is almost an annual tradition in New Brunswick. Former Premier Lord…
Continue ReadingJournalists and economic development
I was just thinking about that previous story of Dubuque, Iowa and 1,300 IBM jobs and wondering what would be the best way to get a detailed analysis of how that happened. What is the backstory? How did IBM get…
Continue ReadingLearning from Dubuque, Iowa
I probably should break down and get a snow blower. It takes me between 1.5 and 3 hours to shovel out every time we have a storm. This is a great story. Dubuque, Iowa (population 57,000) is wooing and close…
Continue ReadingWhither Southern Ontario
I continue to be amazed at the welfare mentality coming out of Ontario these days. At a political level, I guess it makes some sense but now even CD Howe and other Ontario think tanks are calling for more EI fairness, a version of the…
Continue ReadingOn clarity and conviction
A couple of stories this a.m. of interest. First, the CBC has a more detailed piece on the ROC Consulting gig to support economic development in Northern NB. Somebody said this might change my view of the thing. Look, I…
Continue ReadingAn interesting inside look
The TJ has an interesting story this morning about the cost of hiring a consulting team to do some investment lead prospecting for Northern New Brunswick. I am quoted in the piece but what I find interesting is that this…
Continue ReadingMedical tourism
Mostly people just chuckle when I talk about medical tourism as a potentially lucrative economic development opportunity. I have been mentioning it off and on for at least 2-3. I came across this interesting report making the case that Australia…
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