I am going to get nasty emails for this blog but, oh well, here goes. I am not a big fan of tourism as an economic development tool. I guess much of my thinking on this relates to a study…
Continue ReadingMake New Brunswick a ‘No Spin Zone’
If you have had the pleasure (or lack thereof) of watching Bill O’Rielly on Fox News, you will know about the ‘No Spin Zone’. O’Rielly is by far the most popular TV News personality with his abrasive style and constant…
Continue ReadingWelcome to bizarro
According to Wikipedia, in the Bizarro world, society is ruled by the Bizarro Code, which states that it is a crime to do anything well or to make anything perfect or beautiful. Don’t you think things are a little bizarre…
Continue ReadingAlberta and Canada’s greatest irony
Macleans magazine’s cover story this week is about the tremendous wealth that is being generated in Alberta as the result of oil and gas. Half way through the article as they talk about hundreds of billions in tax revenue –…
Continue ReadingMonthly labour market report
I don’t know if I just missed it, but usually the Times & Transcript raves about the booming economy every month when Statistics Canada releases its monthly labour force survey. I didn’t see a mention of this month’s report. No…
Continue ReadingGrowth poles
People write me emails saying what about Minto? What about Sackville? What about Kedgwick Ridge? Should we be attempting to attract foreign business investment into every small community? I say, emphatically, no. We need to have a few ‘growth poles’…
Continue ReadingConnect the dots, for cryin’ out loud
New Brunswick’s Minister of Transportation Paul Robichaud recently bragged about his government’s capital investments approved this year for highway and infrastructure improvements in the province. With New Brunswick exporting so much of its products including raw resources like forest, fish,…
Continue ReadingFederal jobs in New Brunswick
Some economic developers do not like government jobs brought into their community for a variety of reasons mostly related to the fact that community selection is almost always decided for highly political reasons. While I realize that, I still take…
Continue ReadingIt’s all about attitude
I just finished reading the transcript of the former Prime Minister of Ireland’s speech that was given in Saint John recently where he talked about the reasons why Ireland had such phenomenal success at attracting foreign business investment that led…
Continue ReadingDon Mills should know better
I just heard Don Mills, the President of Corporate Research Associates, discussing public opinion in New Brunswick and it felt like someone kicked me in the gut. Don Mills, as the former chair of the Greater Halifax Partnership, should know…
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