As far as incentives go, the payroll rebate is probably one of the least risky for taxpayers because it is paid out only after the payroll is actually paid and that means the company only gets their incentive after the…
Continue ReadingOntario’s push to become special-effects power centre
Believe it or not I still get a lot of push back when I talk about New Brunswick needing to focus on a few key industries and build the value proposition for business investment in those sectors by targeted spending…
Continue ReadingUrbanity
Just about whenever we talk about urban growth in New Brunswick, either we reflexively jump to the ‘urban’ or the ‘rural’ position on the matter. There continues to be this mindset that there is a fixed size economic pie and…
Continue ReadingMore about small biz
This small business owner in Fredericton wrote a very interesting op/ed talking about the need to cut small business taxes to the bone and suggesting it as the way to generate economic growth and pay down the deficit. Much of…
Continue ReadingWhy don’t you put her in charge?
In the James Cameron film, Aliens, there’s a scene where Sigourney Weaver is trying to calm down a distraught Bill Paxton. Weaver says “this litle girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training.” At that point Paxton…
Continue ReadingThis type of economic development is coming to an end
I had a long talk last week with one of New Brunswick’s foremost CEOs and his message to me was that for 40 years governments had made job creation – at all costs- their #1 priority and that now the…
Continue ReadingGetting geographically focused
Effective economic development is a lot like running a business. You have to build products/services that people want. You have to understand your competition. You have to target markets where you are likely to have the most impact and you…
Continue ReadingSetting the bar too low
I guess I am just getting old and a bit curmugeonly but… New Brunswick’s population grew 80% slower than the national growth rate since 2006. Only two provinces registered a slower growth rate. And this performance gets us: “Some people…
Continue ReadingSearching for David Cameron
After reading the piece on Lise Ouellette this morning in the TJ it got me back on theme I have written about before – what is a Tory in New Brunswick? It seems to me that a fundamental opportunity would…
Continue ReadingThose who have destroyed us
The People’s Alliance Party is really tapping into a small but poignant populist sentiment. This bit about not wanting to vote for “those who have destroyed us” is taken from a column written by a PANB candidate in the Miramichi.…
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