I may be just getting old so allow an old geezer a reflection. When I was finishing high school and doing the obligatory review of potential universities I distinctly remember UNB positioning itself as one of Canada’s top computer science…
Continue ReadingMinnesota: All Growed Up
Look at Minnesota all growed up and playing with the big boys. It seems to me that Minnesota has a little New Brunswick look and feel. Cold, lots of huntin’ and fishin’ – lots of skeeters. Maybe we can learn…
Continue ReadingWest Virginia North?
I know this is an old report but I doubt the numbers have changed that much. I pull it out everytime some smart pundit or politicians worries that New Brunswick could end up like Alabama or West Virginia (like this…
Continue ReadingIs beer economic development?
I had a lively chat a few years ago when Molson announced they would be putting a plant in Moncton (with a large grant from the province). The person I was discussing this with was insistent that it wasn’t economic…
Continue ReadingEntrepreneurial risk vs. bad business practices
I had an interesting talk today with someone about this issue of celebrating failure. I have said in the past, and many others as well, that we need to be a society that encourages entrepreneurial risk – particularly in the…
Continue ReadingOECD and World Values Survey
Canada ranks 9th in happiness according to the OECD behind, get this, Northern Ireland and Columbia. Interesting stuff.
Continue ReadingBig fish/small fish
Every see video of the sharks and the little tiny fish that follow them around? It’s interesting because the shark will feed and the leftovers will be scooped up by the little guys. In my column today, I have some…
Continue ReadingRichard Hatfield’s enduring legacy
It’s a classic New Brunswick story – or at least the way we like to tell stories in New Brunswick. Hassan Arif has an op/ed piece in the TJ today talking about Hatfield’s legacy. He starts by ripping the Bricklin project…
Continue ReadingWorthy of a revisit
I reported on this when it first came out but given some of the conversations I had this week I thought it was worth revisiting. From the 2006 Census: New Brunswick: Smallest proportion of postsecondary graduates of all provinces Just…
Continue ReadingSODA = ACOA?
Everybody in the e.d. biz is talking about the new federal economic development agency in southern Ontario. It has been labelled the ACOA for southern Ontario. High praise for ACOA. But I am very curious to see if indeed it…
Continue Reading