In a forthcoming column, I am talking about the new Statistics Canada data on charitable giving across the country – using taxfiler data. I won’t replicate that content here but I will point out a few interesting findings in the…
Continue ReadingEasy to say, hard to do
Brian Gallant, the dewy-eyed dragon slayer running to lead the provincial Libs, wrote an op/ed recently where he elegantly called for ‘real’ consultation of the people and for government that goes beyond four year cycles. I wonder if Bernard Lord’s…
Continue ReadingOde to New Brunswick?
As part of the Greater Moncton Chorale, I sang with Kim Stockwood at the ECMAs on Sunday night. We sang Ode to Newfoundland. Another singer sang about having to leave her native Nova Scotia and the pangs of regret…
Continue ReadingThe feds giveth and taketh
I have pointed out before that the federal government was a significant source of employment growth in New Brunswick over the past decade. They cut hard in the 1990s and then added back almost 2,000 high paying jobs from 2000…
Continue ReadingReducing the growth in public spending will be hard
The following chart shows economic growth in Canada on a per capita basis during the ‘boom’ years of 1999 to 2008. I put this chart together to illustrate an important point. The government sector grew strongly during that decade but…
Continue ReadingCan we inflate our way out of debt?
I touch on this in my column today but it is well worth a closer look. There have been times in our history where high inflation has essentially acted like a large scale reduction in public debt. Essentially, during…
Continue ReadingWhile the big policy issues just pass by….
It’s been a busy season for economic development-related policy issues but I have been plowed under at work and haven’t allocated much time to blogging and now I am thousands of KMs away in California on a vacation. What I…
Continue ReadingMore on the ROTI – Return on Taxpayer Investment related to economic development activities
After I tweeted about the Keane Inc. expansion in Halifax I got one tweet and one email that are instructive. Referring to the payroll rebate offered to the firm, the tweet said: “So that’s $2,770.95/job/yr not counting interest or opportunity…
Continue ReadingThe changing face of post-secondary education in NB
My column in the TJ took a look at the latest data from Statistics Canada on university and college enrolments in Canada for 2009/2010. I won’t recreate that column here (although I have to see if I can republish here?)…
Continue ReadingGrab bag of issues this a.m: NDP, high income & shale gas reports
There are a few points I want to address this morning based on conversations over the past week. The first is on the elect-ability of the NDP. I was having a conversation with a colleague who is a devout NDPer about the…
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