From a recent column in the Telegraph-Journal. If you want an aspirational vision for our future as a province look no further than the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. I had the opportunity to watch the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra perform…
Continue ReadingTaking full advantage of our R&D assets
From a recent column in the Telegraph-Journal. Why is research and development spending in New Brunswick on the decline? Between 2001 and 2007 New Brunswick led the country among the 10 provinces in the growth of R&D spending (public and…
Continue ReadingFederal transfer payments to NB: Declining influence
Shawn Graham was in the news last week waxing about a variety of subjects but silent on maybe the most prescient aspect of the self-sufficiency agenda – the need to wean the province off its relatively high dependency on federal…
Continue ReadingAlberta and income inequality: A second look
This is, of course, a no-win blog post. Anything even remotely related to attempting to justify income inequality is like a red flag to the bulls of Pamplona. But… just because I love taking a punch. This is in response…
Continue ReadingThe ‘real’ real unemployment rate in New Brunswick
There was a good article in the TJ over the weekend about the ‘real’ unemployment rate in New Brunswick. UNB economist Constantine Passaris postulates the real unemployment rate is much higher than 9.3 percent because people are responding to the…
Continue ReadingIt’s time to have a conversation about tourism development
The new Minister for tourism, Bill Fraser, has a good commentary in the TJ today talking about how the new government is “ready to invest in tourism”. It’s nice to see they are now using the right return on the…
Continue ReadingBoosting population: Echos of the self-sufficiency agenda
According to the latest Labour Force Survey there were 487,500 people in New Brunswick aged 15-64 – the population that feeds the labour market. Here is a question for you. What do you think the population in this age…
Continue ReadingAddressing NB’s economic challenges: The right messages to the right audiences
The best of the media tweeters, Jacques Poitras, recently tweeted comments of the new NB LG. This is a good time to restate my view about targeting the right messages to the right audiences. Because some people will read…
Continue ReadingWhat do shale gas and blueberries have in common?
The Province of New Brunswick covers a land area of 71,377.18 square kilometres. That works out to 17.63 million acres. Each shale gas well takes up between one and three acres. Using the high number of acres and assuming a…
Continue ReadingTen-year NB employment growth by sector. You might be surprised….
It is interesting to look at the employment trend by sector in New Brunswick over the past decade as it does put things into perspective. On a seasonally adjusted basis, in September 2004 New Brunswick had 352,600 people working. In…
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