It's The Economy, Stupid

There’s an interesting story in the TJ today about New Brunswick’s debt and a poll done by CRA to find out how New Brunswickers want to pay for it. There was almost no appetite for any new tax increases and…

I’m surprised that economic development is getting fairly heavy play in this election.  Don’t get me wrong, in every election the parties will have an economic development component but so far it seems to be more of an issue.  Starting…

Add this to the pile of little every day coincidences.    The TJ has a story about a Sackville software firm that is expanding: Sackville software developer Kleinmundo Solutions Inc. has inked a partnership agreement with a large U.S. firm that…

I am a bit surprised the Tories are claiming to reverse the tax cuts but by only doing on on the very rich they don’t lose a lot of votes.  The most recent data I have shows 1,170 people in…

I have been following elections in New Brunswick closely since the 1991 election and in my opinion economic development has always been a boilerplate issue but the parties have rarely proposed any bold new ideas – or even how they…

Election time again.  I am feeling a little old – this will be my seventh provincial election.  Now I have a little different role – I will be writing three colums a week in the Telegraph-Journal on election topics – Tuesday, Thursday…

Several people have asked me to comment on the NDP proposal to scrap Business New Brunswick.  I have resisted because it really is a red herring – the NDP would just find other ways to do its brand of economic development. …

I think this is a good initiative.  I’ve talked with senior provincial government bureaucrats (past and present) that say the first thing cut in the past has been policy development expertise in the departments and that many of them do…

From Moody’s report released yesterday, the following is their table on the changing nature of government revenue in New Brunswick.  I don’t have the link to the original document – I can’t find it online. I think this speaks for itself. …

I’m not sure why but I enjoy talking with these old guys.   This is an op/ed by a guy who interviewed an 89 year old economic developer from Nova Scotia.  Yes, there were lots of people doing economic development even…