NBT makes good contributions to this blog. Sensible stuff. He/she is correct that Ireland reduced ‘statism’ and that contributed to the economic resurgence but let’s not make sweeping statements. This chart is taken directly from the 2006 Irish Development Agency…
Continue ReadingOntario and forestry
Funny stuff. The forestry sector* in Ontario is about 1% of the provincial GDP. It’s about 8% in New Brunswick. Pop quiz. Which province Ontario or New Brunswick has taken these steps recently? Capped power rates for pulp and paper…
Continue ReadingThe last word on incentives
Or maybe not…. We all love to debate the merits, morality, legality, efficacy, etc. of the government using taxpayer funds directly to attract industry. From their perspective, they are looking at an ROI (return on investment). For example, if we…
Continue ReadingLots of R&D coming our way
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has announced another wave of R&D funding. $22.5 million in total. New Brunswick is getting about its usual share: Universite de Moncton one project at $48,000 UNB one project at $115,000 0.7% of the…
Continue ReadingPeople power
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.-Matthew 6:21 Anybody know how many new economic developers have been hired by the province in the past couple of years? I haven’t looked at it in several years and…
Continue ReadingWindsor, Ontario mayor hears a Who
I took the kids to Horton Hears a Who over the weekend. It’s standard kid movie fare but the plot centers around the Mayor of Whoville. The way the Council handles the ‘in-camera’ session is worth the price of admission.…
Continue ReadingIt’s the Economy, Stupid Podcast – Week 4
Here is the podcast version of It’s the economy, stupid for Week 4 – keep the feedback coming.
Continue ReadingCentreville plant
Responding to my post earlier this week about a Centreville firm joint venture in China, a poster sent a really nasty reply related the good TJ story on the subject. In it, the writer states: Thomas Equipment Inc. has inked…
Continue ReadingCodiac, New Brunswick is a safe place to live
Maclean’s has its list of safest and most crime ridden municipalities in this week’s edition. Apparently they took the top 100 municipalities by population and cross referenced them against the RCMP crime database. The problem is that the RCMP coverage…
Continue ReadingSigh
Just took a quick look at the 2008-2009 NB budget. Read the summary here. Marginal increase to Business New Brunswick’s budget. Still only $7 million for ‘investment attraction’ and ‘export development’. Out of a $7 billion budget. That’s a nice…
Continue Reading