I see that a native New Brunswicker was primarily responsible for convincing Areva to take a long hard look at New Brunswick. He made the case internally that NB should be a serious market for the French multinational firm. Now…
Continue ReadingThe ghost in the machine – understanding employment figures
You probably know by now that New Brunswick’s employment performance has not been very good since the recovery started across Canada. Over the last year, New Brunswick was the only province in Canada to register a decline in total employment…
Continue ReadingAreva
I met one of the guys from Areva after the announcement last week. We had a good discussion. It seems logical enough to me. Areva is a huge player with no deployed nuclear reactors in North America (I think this…
Continue ReadingStats Can’t-ada
Statistics Canada is changing its long-form census survey from a mandatory to a voluntary one. Apparently Minister Tony Clement made the decision. It has angered a number of stakeholders that rely on this data. The long form was sent out to 20%…
Continue ReadingEnergy park idea – building the cluster
I read this morning that the French energy firm Areva is looking at getting involved in an energy park in the Saint John region. This could include a second nuclear reactor and other investments creating lots of high paying jobs. …
Continue ReadingWaking the sleeping giant
I recently heard a podcast about this commentary in BusinessWeek by Intel CEO Andy Grove. The Yanks can be a slow moving bunch but once they get the ship turned around, it can be a steamroller. I am growing increasingly…
Continue ReadingObama gives $2 billion to solar firms
There are a few things that are interesting about this story. First, it was crazy to think – now in retrospect – that Umoe Solar would be putting a plant like this in the Miramichi. There is way too much…
Continue ReadingGetting the economists engaged
This UNB prof is partially right. He is right to warn about the debt load but I still think that a 2 percentage point rise in the HST would be better than re-raising personal income tax. We can debate that…
Continue Reading‘Dis kapital
A series of conversations recently have convinced me that my messaging needs to be even more plain and to the point. My aunt told me she reads my column every week and enjoys it but “can’t understand a word I…
Continue ReadingOn the latest population figures
I’ll have more to say about this in my TJ column tomorrow but I’ll summarize a few points this morning. First, I think the new population statistics are encouraging so don’t get me wrong here. The population had been firmly…
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