Well, this will be fun. Fredericton and Moncton vying to be the world’s most intelligent community. Both communities made the short list of 21 Intelligent communities. Congratulations. I’ll be curious to see how they get to the short list of…
Continue ReadingData centres go mainstream
I think the first time I started to seriously think that data centres might be an interesting ED opportunity for NB was over three years ago. Now, it is now a mainstream economic development opportunity and I get multiple stories…
Continue ReadingAshfield gets ACOA
It’s a bit strange but I have five emails in my inbox suggesting that Keith Ashfield getting the ACOA portfolio would be great news for New Brunswick. The kind of legacy that McGuire left in PEI, one said. Maybe. But…
Continue ReadingBernie goes retail
I saw on Tuesday as Frank McKenna was announcing he wouldn’t run to lead the Libs, the other less known Premier, Bernard Lord, was announced as the new president of the Canadian wireless industry association. I was more confused about…
Continue ReadingEqualization unsustainable: Flaherty
I just heard Finance Minister Jim Flaherty say that the Equalization program as currently structured is unsustainable. The New Brunswick government has relied on tens of millions more each year in Equalization and it is now the single largest source…
Continue ReadingOn McKenna
There’s an X factor in politics. Something that cuts across policies, dogma and ideology. There was something about Frank McKenna that made a few of us (maybe a lot of us) think that New Brunswick could be a leader instead…
Continue ReadingSmart communities
Freddy Beach and Moncton made the list of 21 Smart Communities for 2009. Hoo hah. The Smart21 of 2009Albany, New York, USA; population 94,000Ashland, Oregon, USA; population 22,000Bristol, Virginia, USA; population 17,500Dublin, Ohio, USA; population 40,000Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; population 1,035,000Eindhoven,…
Continue ReadingOur old friend C.D. takes on EI
The C.D. Howe Institute is the latest think tank to take on the problems with the EI program and concludes, as have many others, that it is contributing to high unemployment mostly in the Atl. Provinces. There are a couple…
Continue ReadingOn Greg Byrne and romantic notions
A couple of emails yesterday on why I am picking on Greg Byrne. My TJ column was entitled “What Keeps Greg Byrne Up At Night” and I was also quoted on the CBC yesterday questionning the advertising campaign in New…
Continue ReadingEconomic development lesson at the bottom of Saint John Harbour
By now you have likely heard about those two massive turbines that fell off a barge into the Saint John Harbour. The are going to have a hard time getting them up from the bottom because they weigh 107 tonnes…
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