An excellent article in the Economist this week discusses educational reforms since the introduction of the PISA tests. The article singles out Ontario for its success at getting better outcomes across the board and herald Premier McGuinty’s efforts. Too bad…
Continue ReadingProtectionism is not the answer, a focus on comparative advantage is
I read in the paper this morning that NB exporters are worried about Obama’s new jobs bill which calls for preference towards companies that employ Americans in America. At the same time I get Tweets and Facebook posts from people…
Continue ReadingThe importance of work
My column today looks at the issue of work -specifically I make the case that we need more of it in New Brunswick. Between the low employment rate, the high usage of EI, the lack of people working over…
Continue ReadingThe deferred revenue hocus pocus
Allowing regulated utilities to book ‘deferred revenue’ in theory is not a bad concept. There may be times such as a new market development phase or even for refurbishment of a large asset but I think using the term in…
Continue ReadingIs there such a thing as micro-focus in economic development
I had a great conversation with an engineer in Freddy Beach last week and we talked about why the Capital City has a higher concentration of engineers than any other city in Canada (with at least 25k population). I was…
Continue ReadingFacing competitive realities
One of my core themes is that New Brunswick should be attracting more investment from national and multinational firms. In my opinion, a core reason for our economic under-performance for generations has been this structural deficit – the capital flow…
Continue ReadingLearning from the tree advocates
I am not sure if you are following the tree controversy in Moncton but a developer tried to cut down nine grand old trees on a heritage property site and before he could get many cut down, his property was…
Continue ReadingBleeding the patient is not the solution
In light of the NWT effort to attract New Brunswickwers to the high wage jobs in that part of Canada, I thought this would be a good time to remind everyone that encouraging out-migration is not the answer to our…
Continue ReadingQuebec luring video game jobs from U.S.
The key point in this article is the 37.5% of payroll costs – refundable tax credit for video game companies. It certainly has been effective with 86 companies and 8,400 jobs created but it cost the Quebec government $100…
Continue ReadingAdvice for the young and the restless
Man, it just seems like yesterday we were debating about the spoiled Millennials and how that they were the first generation in memory that hadn’t experienced the impacts of a recession or depression. That was 2006-2007. At that time…
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