It's The Economy, Stupid

I actually got quite a bit of feedback on my column suggesting that we still need to focus on jobs for those that need them while at the same time looking for high quality jobs (the quality vs. quantity debate).…

There is a scene in one of my favourite odd ball movies – The Three Amigos – where the German bad guy blows away a half dozen people because one of them makes a comment.  His response “anyone else with…

I’m a big fan of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) – Canada has a version of this but not as wide ranging – the agency used to monitor government spending and to test the veracity of program spending and…

Doing a little more research on this issue of Maritime Union, I wanted to know how much affinity New Brunswickers have with the concept of New Brunswick.  Because of a lack of immigration, New Brunswickers have the second highest percentage…

I usually don’t like calling out specific people on this blog because they might not appreciate it one way or the other but occasionally I feel the need to do just that. When I first moved to Moncton in 1997 I met…

One of the things that folks who think a lot about economic development in New Brunswick focus on is the significant economic leakage from a small province such as New Brunswick. Visualize a ‘closed’ economy where almost all the economic…

I had the opportunity to take part in a session today looking at the growth potential in one of the province’s most interesting industries – life sciences. There was an expert brought in from the U.K. to discuss her experience…

I have thought through the economic development problem in New Brunswick from just about every angle over the years. I hadn’t advocated for a separate Invest NB organization. I had argued that a private sector-led economic development agency with a…

I had an excellent conversation with this guy a couple of years ago. He is a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and he was writing a book on the problems with industrial incentive policies in the United States.…

Lisa Keenan’s op/ed in today’s Telegraph-Journal is an important contribution.    She ties it into the Atcon affair which is a little much given the pile of lost money given by the Tories to companies such as Atlantic Yarns which…