Niall Ferguson is one of the more interesting historians out there today. He is a prolific writer and out there in a very public way espousing history as a tool to influence current public policy. In the past few years…
Continue ReadingWhy the bond rating agencies’ opinions matter
To clear things up DBRS did not downgrade the bond rating. It confirmed New Brunswick at A (high) and R-1 (middle) but it changed the trend from stable to negative. This matters because in the fairly arcane world of bond…
Continue ReadingAttracting and retaining international students. Two thumbs up!
Liberally applying Bryan Adams’ lyrics inappropriately, I have been writing about the importance of international students ’til my fingers bled. I was glad to hear the feds are now taking this seriously in Atlantic Canada. There is so much to like…
Continue ReadingThe myth of the full time worker
If most of us were asked to describe what ‘work’ looks like I suspect we would talk about getting up in the morning, going off to work – maybe fighting rush hour traffic, putting in eight hours and then going home. The…
Continue ReadingIt’s time to end the EI fiction
There’s a story on the CBC website this morning about the plight of workers on EI that work seasonally at Kings Landing. It’s unfair, they say, because they get fewer weeks of EI than their counterparts in the Village historique…
Continue ReadingThe disappearing wage gap between NB and Ontario
Someone asked me about the wage gap between New Brunswick and Ontario after reading my column this week. Happy to accommodate. If you go back to the 1950s, depending on the measure you use the wage ‘gap’ between New Brunswick…
Continue ReadingAre we fostering ‘fake’ startups? Separating fact from hyperbole
Diane Francis loves to stir the pot. Her column, Grants to ‘fake startups’ won’t build Silicon Valley North. They will only spawn Bombardier-like boondoggles, got a lot of blood boiling – particularly in Atl. Canada for whom she lobbed some…
Continue ReadingEngineering economic development: Who’s got the power?
I see that Quebec City-based Englobe Corp. has bought Crandall Engineering following a trend of national and international firms scooping up New Brunswick-based engineering firms (ADI, etc.). It might just be me but it seems that an increasing number…
Continue ReadingCompetition is good, comrades!
I’m watching Comrade Detective on Amazon Prime Video while on the treadmill these days. It’s a fascinating thing to behold. The show is a Romanian detective show from the 1980s that is completely laced with socialist propaganda. All dialogue and sets/scenery…
Continue ReadingStranger Things: New Brunswick labour market edition
Statistics Canada recently published a report stating that the growth in paid employment in New Brunswick is highly correlated to the growth in the working age population. Quelle suprise. The article seems to imply the causality is one way. If…
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