It's The Economy, Stupid

Bill Belliveau is making the case for high speed rail around New Brunswick.  Live in St. Stephen, work in Saint John.  Live in Miramichi, work in Moncton, etc.   Belliveau is a thoughtful guy and mostly makes sense.  This idea also…

Someone sent me a link re: the last post saying that $50 million in incentives for 500 jobs seems like a lot of money – particularly in light of my emphasis on ROI for government dollars invested in projects like…

German chemical company Wacker Chemie is investing in a new $1 billion plant in Cleveland, Tennessee. Local officials say the deal will bring at least 500 jobs. Gov. Phil Bredesen says Thursday that the deal with the Munich, Germany-based company will bolster…

Like most organizations, the cost of labour (payroll) tends to make up the bulk of government spending so any attempts to look at cost control will turn to either cutting the number of public sector workers (and by that I…

I don’t know why this toll issue is coming up again.   There is no way any government in New Brunswick is going to propose toll highways after what happened in 1999. Sure, I know that Nova Scotia has tolls and…

A couple of days ago, CBC had a interview with an advisor to President Obama on energy and climate change issues.  The guy singled out Manitoba Premier Gary Doer and said he had been working with California on clean energy…

There are a few old grizzled veterans around like the 80+ year old Hal Fredericks and the younger but knowledgeable Donald Savoie that truly understand the scope and scale of economic development efforts in this region going back 40 years…

Someone told me today that he hears the provincial Liberals are thinking about calling an election this year.  The idea is to get a new mandate out front of a few potentially difficult years and provincial budgets.  It’s an interesting…

From the TJ today: Tom Mann says it’s time to make New Brunswick’s public pension plans work for the entire province by turning the public dollars into government bonds that will keep money in the province instead of investing in…

HSBC Bank International’s “Expat Explorer Survey” was done to find out what countries are favorable for expatriates, how well they adjust to local conditions and how well they become friends with the locals. The study surveyed 2,155 expats from 48…