It's The Economy, Stupid

Long time readers of this blog will know of my focus on positive investment flows as the underlying foundation for economic development.  Because we are a small province, etc. most of the savings accumulated in New Brunswick flows out of…

  Below is the chart I used in my presentation earlier this week to make the case that we can’t use outward migration of New Brunswickers as a reason not to attract immigrants.  If you look at the number of…

There was an interesting article in the Economist magazine this week about the rise of self-employment in Britain and the conclusion by economists that this is basically a bad thing. This runs somewhat counter to the “start-up” narrative that has…

I keep hearing folks ask the question “how come we need more immigrants when we have high unemployment and young people moving out west for jobs”?  The answer to this question is one of the keys to us getting our…

The Economist magazine has an interesting segment this week called “The World, if….” which provides a series of stories similar to its The World This Week but only at some point in the near future after Hillary Clinton is President. …

There is an excellent article in The Economist magazine this week about the rise of the freelance ‘bughunters’.  These are folks who get paid to find bugs that hackers use to break into websites and secure networks.  There are tens…

I have interesting conversations in my role here with GNB.  Lots of folks offer a wide variety of commentary on what government needs to do to get the economy moving in the right direction. Most people talk about the need…

I just read that there is an incubator in Colorado focused on start-ups developing products and services for the emerging cannabis industry. This makes sense given Colorado’s laws related to the industry.  It is a strategic advantage that most other…

I’m reading Bruce Cockburn’s biography this week so I have his music running through my head – hence the title of this blog.  Anyone of a certain age will know the song and its meaning. I’ve been grappling with the…

I’m in the Big Apple for a few days’ vacation and I stumbled across a few things of interest.  First, over the last 10 years there has been roughly $1.4 billion worth of international salmon exports from New Brunswick the vast…