In April of 1999 Don Cayo writes "Some government people in New Brunswick are trying to claim responsibility for the "good" news in a report published just over a week ago by AIMS, the think-tank I run. And some people in the Nova Scotia government are trying to duck responsibility for "bad" news in the same report."
New Brunswickers generating more wealth and lower jobless rate
The age of wooden ships and iron men was an age of gold for the powerful economies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But, iron ships took to the sea, and our ship-building industry rotted away. We hung on to the old, and failed the new. Like most myths, this is part fable and part truth - but it's oh, so relevant today. We still hang on to the old - at huge expense - and fail the new. Fr5ed McMahon in the The Moncton Times and Transcript and the Halifax Daily News, 1999.
The coal curtain is being swept away in Cape Breton, and maybe soon the steel wall - Cape Breton's subsidized steel industry - will come tumbling down. This should be a time of jubilee in Cape Breton, an occasion to pop champagne corks, not cry over split milk. Fred McMahon, 1999
Two main impediments stand in the way of a more active venture capital market: the availability of subsidized government financing, and a fractured and difficult securities regime.
The demise of Devco is the best news to hit Nova Scotia and Cape Breton for years. And, if Ottawa lives up to its implicit commitment to Devco workers, it's great news for coal miners too. Fred McMahon in the Times and Transcript and the halifax Daily News, 1999.
The nationalized Cape Breton coal mines, a Trudeau-era relic, seem more and more like a Russian relic from the Soviet era. They are dirty, big, out-moded and there's not enough money left in the till to make next month's payroll, despite billions in subsidies. Fred McMahon in the National Post, 1998
AIMS president Don Cayo asks, "Has Confederation been worth it for Newfoundland ? It's been 50 years since the island province made its first moves toward leaving Britain and federating with another country. Time to look at the balance sheet."
Everyone knows that Canada faces the prospect of a dramatically aging population as the Baby Boomers, that huge demographic bulge, edge towards retirement. But Don Cayo points out, an AIMS study underlines is how much more dramatic that will be in a region with stagnant or negative growth.
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