The Conservative’s rationale to scrap the mandatory long form Census is starting to crystallize for me. I had proposed it as a conspiracy theory earlier but it seems I just wasn’t looking at it close enough. It’s not about a violation…
Continue ReadingHow to decide the ‘right thing to do’ in politics
I like Tony Clement. I saw him speak once and he seems to be a bright guy which puzzles me all the more on this Census thing. Stockwell Day I could see being paranoid about government and personal information but…
Continue ReadingYou can’t have one without the other
Economies can be basically broken down into two parts – production and consumption. Already the American economy is about 70% consumption and 30% production and most economists and economic developers think there needs to be more production (this is in…
Continue ReadingEconomic development is a non-partisan issue
Somebody send me a post for the blog that led off with” “People like Donald Savoie (UofM), David Campbell, Peter Linfield and Don Desseraud (UNB) seem remarkably quiet about this election. Why are some of these experts not ‘beating the…
Continue ReadingThe best defence is a good offense
A few years ago I set up a Google News Alert to monitor stories about Canada’s Equalization program. It seemed to me then (the time of McGuinty’s fairness campaign) that the program was under seige from a number of groups…
Continue ReadingAn instructive case in populist point
I don’t spend a lot of time responding to everyone who comments on my blog here or elsewhere but there was a comment to my blog on populism over here at the People’s Alliance of New Brunswick site that really…
Continue ReadingA bit on populism
I see the Tories have adopted the slogan of putting New Brunswickers first. The Peoples’ Alliance Party is also using populism as its core thrust. I realize this is a great tool for rallying votes but I struggle to find…
Continue ReadingSlow wage growth in NB
This is a bit unexpected. New Brunswick has the slowest year over year wage growth (May 2009 to May 2010) among the 10 provinces. Not sure why this is the case. I know the provincial government froze wage increases –…
Continue ReadingSavoie dissects Nova Scotia
Donald Savoie’s new report on the future of economic development (and other things) in Nova Scotia is out. He is not recommending consolidation as some had suggested of the various organizations (NSBI, ERD, Innovacorp, etc.) but it does seem he…
Continue ReadingSmall jurisdictions can compete
One of the things I like about industry reports such as this is they remind me that small jurisdictions can be very successful competing against large jurisdictions in attracting investment into important, fast growing industries. If I had a nickel…
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