It’s interesting. It seems passing Newfoundland & Labrador with the highest unemployment rate in Canada among the 10 provinces has at least raised a few eyebrows. As I pointed out in my column on Saturday, getting the public interest in…
Continue ReadingSeeking Service New Brunswick 9.0
You don’t have to roam the halls of the Centennial Building for too long before finding someone that will wax romantic about the introduction of Service New Brunswick back in the 1990s. You will be told that at the…
Continue ReadingThe death of news-talk radio in New Brunswick?
I am probably a little biased here because I am a regular contributor to News 91.9 but I am disappointed that the Saint John and Moncton channels are seemingly moving to a music format. How many crappy ways are there…
Continue ReadingSeeking ‘true’ economic growth
My column in this morning’s TJ looks at the sources of ‘true’ economic growth – specifically incremental economic growth. I have received several emails already today about this column so let me clarify a few points. It can be hard…
Continue ReadingDispatches from the road: Edmonton
The last time I was in Edmonton was in the early 2000s and a lot has changed since. I hardly recognized the place but I guess that is what happens when you are a fast growing urban centre. The population…
Continue ReadingJust because you want it. A deeper look at trends in the NB CPI
Just because you are curious. Here are the elements in the NB CPI that are increasing the fastest and decreasing the most in the past two years. Geez, what’s going on with eggs and bread? Change in the NB CPI…
Continue ReadingHappy 50th anniversary to the Université de Moncton
From a recent column in the TJ: A journalist once asked me to name the single most important factor that contributed to the success of the Greater Moncton economy over the past 30 years. There are a number of potential…
Continue ReadingA possible Moncton High solution
At the Moncton High graduation the other night the looming loss of the physical building was weighing on the whole event – mentioned directly or indirectly by just about everyone that spoke. The valedictorian had along segment about the physical…
Continue ReadingWhere are the shale bass protests?
When the father out in Hillsborough put his young son in the media warning against the perils of shale gas development and its impact on our water, I wondered why he wasn’t up at arms about the current water crisis in…
Continue ReadingMerrily chipping away
In my naïve days of youth I wished for the white knight that would swoop in and through sheer force of will transform this region into an economic dynamo. Well, to be honest I was never quite that naïve but…
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