I spent the last two days in Fredericton talking to folks in government, pundits, consultants, etc. and it seems clear the new government is in study mode. You can almost smell the sawdust burning as you walk in the soon-to-be-redundant…
Continue ReadingThe ninth discussion
My column today is a variation on the series of ‘discussions’ that the Globe & Mail is having they say will help us redefine who we are as a nation. I realize I am studying a particular wedge of the…
Continue ReadingThe lesson of Moncton High
My column today is called The Lesson of Moncton High. If you talk to folks close to the situation you will hear a wide variety of reasons that I don’t look at in the column. Common among these would be: 1. That Moncton…
Continue ReadingMining for economic development
I see that Adex Mining is looking at a 500 job mining operation in rural New Brunswick between Fredericton and St. George. I have been worried in recent years about the decline in economic activity in rural New Brunswick. We…
Continue ReadingImplications of the aging workforce
In my column today I take a look at the fiscal consequences of the significant demographic shift in New Brunswick that is currently underway. We have had a steep increase in the population aged 55-64 (over 50%) and they will…
Continue ReadingHolt at Energy
I used to work with Doug Holt in the early 1990s. He’s a straight up guy and will be capable in his new duties at the Department of Energy. It is one of the most complex files in government right…
Continue ReadingWhere angels fear to tread
I am a little uncomfortable wading into an area where I have limited experience. I have worked on several projects related to immigration and I was able to interview over 100 immigrants across the Atlantic Provinces in 2008. I am…
Continue ReadingTrying to understand the self-employment phenomenon
Chalk this one up as another on the wish list of research areas for me. Why after 30 years of massively expanding government efforts to promote entrepreneurship has the percentage of self-employed persons in Atlantic Canada remain essentially flat (as…
Continue ReadingUsing proper economic analysis
It would seem to me important for economists and finance professors to be clear when they are using concepts like the economic multiplier in the public domain. In this column, J. Colin Dodds, president of Saint Mary’s University and a…
Continue ReadingLearning from the MHS debacle
One of the largest high school populations in New Brunswick is about to be severed and sent off to finish the rest of this year squatting in two k-8 schools – and are displacing that space needed by other students. It will…
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