Some one asked me one time to give them some Canadiana. What is interesting about this place? I rattled off Tim Horton’s, moose, lobster, canola, the Rockies, etc. but I also said getting cheques from government. I had just read…
Continue ReadingIt’s all about the product: Putting the ‘development’ back in economic development
I was in a meeting this week where we were having a good conversation about how to revive a local economy. We need more people. Check. We need to better promote ourselves. Check. We need to support startup companies. Check.…
Continue ReadingStart with good data: You are not as average (or median) as you think you are
One of the most misunderstood statistics out there is the average or median income stats. People will look at that data and scratch their heads. How can the median income only be $31,000 and the average income only $39,141 in…
Continue ReadingSuper Mario’s world: From entrepreneurial risk to reward
In his soul, Mario Thériault is an artist. He started out as a poet but that doesn’t pay the bills. In another time he might have been a revolutionary but instead he turned his creativity to the marketing and communications…
Continue ReadingDo you have the most livable city? You will thrive.
I know, king of statistics and all that jazz. But this one matters. A lot. We need to attract more people to New Brunswick but the best data source on who is coming and staying, the Census, doesn’t paint a…
Continue ReadingIt’s time for a charm offensive. Calling Terry O’Reilly, Part 2
It’s not like we haven’t had disagreement on public policy in New Brunswick over the past 150+ years. In Richard Wilbur’s annual review of the New Brunswick between 1960 and 2006, he uses the word ‘protest’ 115 times or an…
Continue ReadingBulletproofing your economic development organization
I have worked with over 60+ economic development organizations over the past decade and I would say the majority of them have faced serious questions about why they exist and if they are adding any value – if they are…
Continue ReadingAlbert County: The spark that started a 170 year global economic renaissance?
There is a fascinating story in the Times & Transcript this weekend about Albert County and its role as the “birthplace of the petroleum industry”. He is making his pitch and getting traction. The Petroleum History Institute is “making a…
Continue ReadingWill Atlantic Canada finally become a hotbed for IT?
I still remember a speech given by former PM Jean Chrétien in the mid 1990s talking about the promise of the information technology (IT) sector. He said that unlike manufacturing or transportation or even other services that are based on…
Continue ReadingYou want to retain population? Restrict immigration. Warning, this will come with a cost.
There is a lot of focus these days on immigrant retention. We have a new source of data, Medicare cards, to help us track the flow of new immigrant populations within Canada. In fact, population retention – not just immigrants…
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