David Jonah convinced me to start blogging back in 2004. Since then I have written 3,463 posts. Likely most of it is crap – with a few nuggets of value along the way. It’s interesting to see how things have…
Continue ReadingCan small North American jurisdictions grow without a significant mining/oil and gas sector?
One of the main concerns I have had over the years is whether or not a small jurisdiction in North America can grow its economy in a sustained way without a large boost in mining/oil and gas development. The experience…
Continue ReadingCalling Malcolm Gladwell: Walk amongst the elephants in the Atlantic Canada room
I listened recently to a podcast of a lecture given by Malcolm Gladwell where he mentioned that some people say he is the master of “dumb, obvious points”. He then went on to discuss a dumb, obvious point about something. I…
Continue ReadingNew Brunswick at Canada’s 150th – what will 200 look like?
I am increasingly of the view that New Brunswick and its communities actually spend too much time on introspection. A little introspection – time on the couch – is good. Too much leads to paralysis. But on a momentous birthday,…
Continue ReadingDistracted by a lack of older NBers learning French? This is a bigger problem:
I am somewhat wary of dipping toe into any conversation about bilingualism in New Brunswick because, well, just because. I am sure that a lot of readers are nodding their heads in agreement. Anyway instead of worrying about why more English…
Continue ReadingFostering startups among dominant industry supply chains
In October 2016, an old friend of New Brunswick Tim Coates partnered with one of the best researchers on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, Daniel Isenberg, on an important piece of analysis. Published in the Harvard Business…
Continue ReadingThe unemployment and education gap between young men and young women is widening
Back in the 1980s Tom Peters was among the first thinkers to suggest that women would rule the knowledge-based economy of the future. I recall he said something about men being good for heavy lifting or something similar to that.…
Continue ReadingImmigration-to-atlantic-canada-for-dummies
Since I didn’t get my invitation to speak to the parliamentary committee studying immigration and Atlantic Canada even though I probably have analyzed more data on this than just about anyone else, I’ll give you my thumbnail analysis of the…
Continue ReadingThe bonfire of my vanities
My working hypothesis for the past 20+ years has been that New Brunswick could be a place that achieves strong economic growth, boosts its population, has dynamic urban centres and strong rural economies. The problems, it seemed to me, were…
Continue ReadingExpanding Riverview’s role as a air traffic control centre (?)
For those of you unfamiliar with Riverview, New Brunswick, some of the nicest homes belong to the folks working at the NAVCAN Flight Information Region. There are five of these across Canada. Ever since I moved back to New Brunswick…
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