I am spending a few days in the Dallas-Forth Worth area on vacation with a side objective to check out the development of Barnett shale gas down here. I wasn’t interested in plowing through all the literature on this. My…
Continue ReadingEI and local labour market distortions
My column in the TJ today was on the EI changes and the growing protests. Someone asked me to clarify a few points so here goes. First, one of the main problems with the EI system particularly in rural and…
Continue ReadingFDI through acquisition: The BioVectra example
In the old days (when I was active in the FDI attraction biz), we were 100 percent focused on attracting greenfield investments. In other words, we were trying to attract a firm from somewhere else to establish a manufacturing facility,…
Continue ReadingJobs, jobs, jobs: Redux
My column today in the TJ talked about the potential of wooing NB’s diaspora back to the province to work and build their careers. I wrote it before the latest labour market report showing more declines in the province’s workforce. …
Continue ReadingWords matter: Learning from shale gas
You have probably noticed all the interest in shale gas and related developments in British Columbia. There was concern over a state-owned Malaysian firm offering billions of dollars to buy into a northern BC shale play. Now Chevron wants in…
Continue ReadingImagine New Brunswick as the Learning Province
Two years ago the NB2026 Roundtable identified literacy, education and training – under the rubric of learning – as one of the principal roadblocks to New Brunswick’s development and prosperity and set out to do something about it. A two…
Continue ReadingNow you are cooking with gas
Long before New Brunswickers were using natural gas in their homes (at least this time around – gas was used 100 years ago in Moncton) my father used to intone “now you are cooking with gas” when someone was getting…
Continue ReadingThe charming community of Clare, NS
I have the opportunity to work with Clare on a new economic development effort. It’s a very interesting community – a number of vibrant industries and a dynamic cultural and linguistic context. But it is suffering from the challenges facing…
Continue ReadingShale gas – keeping the NIMBYs happy
A good article in The Economist this week discusses the development of shale gas in Britain. There are a few points that are worth summarizing: The Chancellor is looking at tax incentives to woo shale gas firms to Britain because…
Continue ReadingConsequential leadership in inconsequential times
As I have written in the past, I don’t believe we are currently living in overly consequential times. We are not facing the massive economic upheaval of the 1930s nor are we facing world wars or massive poverty. In truth…
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