I’m in Boston all week on a course looking at innovation as an economic development driver. I haven’t formally taken courses in a few years and I felt now was a good time and this was an important subject. However,…
Continue ReadingPeople moving out but animals moving in
It’s interesting to see the animals moving into New Brunswick. The wild turkey population is reaching a level that there is interest in starting a hunting season. A few weeks ago, a cougar was caught in a trap near Sussex…
Continue ReadingClarifying EI usage
I want to clear up an important statistic. People are now widely using the 110,000 figure to talk about the number of NBers who collect Employment Insurance each year. That is the correct number but there are two points to…
Continue ReadingIf you build it, they might come? (musing on broadband investments)
My TJ column tomorrow discusses the fact that New Brunswick has pervasive broadband Internet ‘access’ (i.e. availability) but the lowest percentage of households ‘accessing’ it. If you strip out the urban areas of Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John, the percentage…
Continue ReadingThe limits to migration
I have been thinking a lot lately about the limits to migration. With the revelation that the federal government has been asking Atlantic Canadians what it would take to get them to move out of their communities to where the…
Continue ReadingRetail and economic development
I’ve never been a big fan of the retail sector as an economic development focus. I was reminded of this fact after reading this article discuss the great length communities are going to in their desire to attract Apple Stores. …
Continue ReadingRebuilding the Prosperity Plan through a Self-Sufficiency Agenda (i.e. What’s in a name?)
While it may be a trivial point it is interesting to note the substantially different titles (and the tone) of the three major economic development plans for New Brunswick since 2002. In 2002, Canada was in the middle of the…
Continue ReadingThe lost Harper-Alward transcript (an exercise in wishful thinking)
From somewhere off in the distance… “Mr. Prime Minister, it’s New Brunswick Premier David Alward on the telephone”. PM: Groan. Put him through. Alward: Hello, Mr, Prime Minister. Thanks for taking my call. PM: Hey, David, do you want my…
Continue ReadingMunicipal politics matters – a lot
Some interesting drama on election night. Saint Johners voted for change in a big way. I think Mel Norton will be a good leader in the Port City. I have always felt that cities take on the persona of…
Continue ReadingShale Gas Development: The Twin Problems of Minds and Markets
99% of the space in the public square allocated for debate about shale gas development in New Brunswick has been used up by debate about the environmental concerns raised by the extraction technology. As I have said before, if…
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