My column in this morning’s TJ looks at the sources of ‘true’ economic growth – specifically incremental economic growth. I have received several emails already today about this column so let me clarify a few points. It can be hard…
Continue ReadingDispatches from the road: Edmonton
The last time I was in Edmonton was in the early 2000s and a lot has changed since. I hardly recognized the place but I guess that is what happens when you are a fast growing urban centre. The population…
Continue ReadingJust because you want it. A deeper look at trends in the NB CPI
Just because you are curious. Here are the elements in the NB CPI that are increasing the fastest and decreasing the most in the past two years. Geez, what’s going on with eggs and bread? Change in the NB CPI…
Continue ReadingHappy 50th anniversary to the Université de Moncton
From a recent column in the TJ: A journalist once asked me to name the single most important factor that contributed to the success of the Greater Moncton economy over the past 30 years. There are a number of potential…
Continue ReadingA possible Moncton High solution
At the Moncton High graduation the other night the looming loss of the physical building was weighing on the whole event – mentioned directly or indirectly by just about everyone that spoke. The valedictorian had along segment about the physical…
Continue ReadingWhere are the shale bass protests?
When the father out in Hillsborough put his young son in the media warning against the perils of shale gas development and its impact on our water, I wondered why he wasn’t up at arms about the current water crisis in…
Continue ReadingMerrily chipping away
In my naïve days of youth I wished for the white knight that would swoop in and through sheer force of will transform this region into an economic dynamo. Well, to be honest I was never quite that naïve but…
Continue ReadingBuilding a natural gas industry supply chain in New Brunswick
From a recent TJ column: One of the strangest arguments being made by opponents of the shale gas industry is that there will be very little economic benefit from developing a natural gas exploration and production industry in New Brunswick.…
Continue ReadingImmigrants/1st Generation: 50% of high net-worth Canadians
You may have noticed that immigration has become a central theme of this blog. Twenty years ago I was a fan of immigration but I worried – as do many – about the migration of immigrants out of New Brunswick…
Continue ReadingPolish clinics: Another kind of health tourism
The Economist has an excellent story in this week’s magazine about the rise of Polish health clinics in Britain. Polish doctors are setting up private clinics dentists, general practitioners (GPs), paediatricians and gynaecologists that have “pulled off the remarkable feat…
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