At the Moncton High graduation the other night the looming loss of the physical building was weighing on the whole event – mentioned directly or indirectly by just about everyone that spoke. The valedictorian had along segment about the physical…
Continue ReadingWhere are the shale bass protests?
When the father out in Hillsborough put his young son in the media warning against the perils of shale gas development and its impact on our water, I wondered why he wasn’t up at arms about the current water crisis in…
Continue ReadingMerrily chipping away
In my naïve days of youth I wished for the white knight that would swoop in and through sheer force of will transform this region into an economic dynamo. Well, to be honest I was never quite that naïve but…
Continue ReadingBuilding a natural gas industry supply chain in New Brunswick
From a recent TJ column: One of the strangest arguments being made by opponents of the shale gas industry is that there will be very little economic benefit from developing a natural gas exploration and production industry in New Brunswick.…
Continue ReadingImmigrants/1st Generation: 50% of high net-worth Canadians
You may have noticed that immigration has become a central theme of this blog. Twenty years ago I was a fan of immigration but I worried – as do many – about the migration of immigrants out of New Brunswick…
Continue ReadingPolish clinics: Another kind of health tourism
The Economist has an excellent story in this week’s magazine about the rise of Polish health clinics in Britain. Polish doctors are setting up private clinics dentists, general practitioners (GPs), paediatricians and gynaecologists that have “pulled off the remarkable feat…
Continue ReadingDetroit: An American Autopsy.
I just finished reading Detroit: An American Autopsy. It was written by a journalist and chronicles both his professional and personal story about the decline of Detroit. It’s a gritty read and not for the faint of heart but it…
Continue ReadingDo we need to change the message and the medium?
Donald Savoie makes another compelling argument in the T&T today that things need to change in New Brunswick but I think the message is increasingly falling on deaf ears. I really think we haven’t thought through how the demographic shift…
Continue ReadingCollaboration requires collaborators. Restating my ‘mutual benefit’ principle
Peter Moreira writes in his Progress magazine piece: “The star of the recent 4Front Atlantic conference was undoubtedly Dominic Barton, the managing director of global management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company, who endeared himself to the audience by challenging Atlantic Canada’s…
Continue ReadingSeeking private-sector led regional cooperation
I read the new 4Front report and I fully support their goals and the rising interest in working together. I just worry the whole thing will devolve -as have so man others – into a laundry list of things for…
Continue Reading