It’s interesting that Graham was able to deal Alward body blows over decisions made by the previous Tory government. I thought he was going to break out Obama’s line about “giving them back the keys to the car after they…
Continue ReadingTo the Victor go the Spoiled
After Obama got elected, I heard a Republican commentator saying “who would want the job?”. He went on to say that Obama would have to bear the brunt of the recession and that his party could regroup and get back…
Continue ReadingLet’s Play Jobs Roulette!
Long time readers will remember that I dislike the way that politicans and governments use the Labour Force Survey data to spin their story. Just by using a few tricks, you can show a better or worse job creation record…
Continue ReadingTom Adams’ bad mood
This is a stinging critique of the Tory energy policy study by the Toronto-based energy consultant, Tom Adams. He hammers just about every major theme from natural gas to electricity rates and I don’t agree with much his commentary. Some…
Continue ReadingRethinking payroll rebates
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…
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