The Globe & Mail has a story today entitled “Saint John gets its swagger back”. The article is a positive piece focused mostly on the energy sector in the city. New Brunswick needs a strong and vibrant Saint John. If…
Continue ReadingOne last point – the clustering effect
Most of you are familiar with Michael Porter’s work on industry clusters. Porter in the 1990s did a pile of research and concluded industries that are clustered in a geographic location have a far better chance of success in the…
Continue ReadingOn nostalgia and breaking entrenched thinking
Bill Belliveau mentions my recent piece on the need to attract more business investment here in his T&T column today. I have never met Bill Belliveau but I enjoy his columns and his CBC panel discussions. I also think he…
Continue ReadingThat whole forest for the trees thing
They say age brings understanding. Maybe. For me, the older I get the more I realize how little I really do know. I had a few conversations over the past week that have highlighted this fact. The bottom line is…
Continue ReadingJust talked with a legend
Just got off the telephone with Hal Fredericks, one of the first real economic developers in Atlantic Canada. He read my column and called up. Fredericks cut his teeth in the 1950s with the original APEC and worked for years…
Continue ReadingWhat happens in Cleveland, stays in Cleveland
The economic development biz in New Brunswick has lost one of its finest, sort of. Neil Jacobsen, formerly of Enterprise Saint John has been recruited as ADM with the Dept. of Energy. The TJ’s Shipley has a good piece on…
Continue ReadingNo Soviet style planning recommended
Someone sent me a quick email saying New Brunswick doesn’t need Soviet style economic planning. I think they believe that because I am advising that governments and community leaders get focused on existing strengths and look for ways to build…
Continue ReadingA Peasant Girl Gathering Faggots in a Wood
Warning: Rant ahead. Probably among the most caustic I have written in a while. Most likely because it is my 40th birthday this week and almost the 18th anniversary of my taking a job at the NB Dept. of Economic…
Continue ReadingCerebral Geeks
Our old friend Trevor Macausland serves up a think piece in this interesting new blog (only a few posts). I think it’s the same guy?
Continue ReadingMerry Christmas folks
My invitation to this event seems to have been lost in the mail. If you are not able to download it, this story covers the upcoming session on growing entrepreneurs put on by the NB Biz Council in February. A…
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