HAVE IDEAS, WILL TRAVEL -- My IVLP Trip

For the next three weeks, the blog is going to be more active and quite a bit different.  In case you missed my news, I've had the honour of being selected to join the International Visiting Leaders programme through the U.S.State Department. The IVLP is designed to let emerging foreign leaders visit a variety of regions in the U.S. and exchange ideas and perspectives with American policy leaders. Among the alumni of the programme you'll find Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Hamid Karzai, as well as many less famous folks who still went home with some new ideas and made their communities a bit better. I'll settle for making it into that second group.

My group is unusual in the IVLP -- instead of a mix of nations, we are five Canadians from a variety of backgrounds and regions in our own home and native land. We have a central theme as well, with our trip looking specifically at economic development and creation of entrepreneurial cultures in struggling economic zones. We start in Washington to learn about the policy instruments, but then head to cities around the U.S. to see how people actually make those policies real through community agencies and local programmes.  We will soon be heading to, in order, Charleston, Albuquerque, Seattle and Detroit. 

You'll meet my four travelling companions as we get to know each other, but I can already give you one spoiler alert.   They are all impressive people, with a creative entrepreneurial bent. They are also clearly fun to travel with, and we've already decided that we are going to enjoy our three weeks together.

After a tour of Washington's landmarks and a briefing on comparative federalism, the policy part of our tour began today with visits to some key government departments. (the federalism part can be summed up quickly once one accepts that Canadians' greatest policy fear is that government will fail to act when needed, and Americans' greatest fear is that government will act when it isn't needed at all.)

Through the next three weeks, I'm going to share some thoughts on how some lessons, axioms, and anecdotes might apply to tackling our challenges in New Brunswick. And if three weeks of travel inevitably lends to some funny or amazing moments, I will share that, too.  After all, I already stopped a few times and wished more New Brunswickers could be here for this. Maybe in some ways you can. 

A Micropolitan Plan For New Brunswick

If we had a smart economic development strategy for rural New Brunswick, what would it look like?

It wouldn't look at all like what we've been doing for twenty years, that's for sure. Governments have spent millions chasing white elephants, offering huge subsidies to lure industries to towns they normally wouldn't even look at. We take money from taxpayers to put bagel factories or yarn factories or hockey stick factories in a town where they willl barely stay longer than it takes politicians to cut the ribbon.

The result is usually a factory that stays until the subsidies run out, then heads off to the highest bidder elsewhere, usually outside Canada.

What if, instead of looking for one magic bullet to create 100 jobs in Doaktown or Perth or Paquetville, we asked how 50 businesses can each create two jobs by meeting the markets that exist there naturally?

I just described the micropolitan movement-- the approach that gives small cities and towns the power to grow by rebuilding their Main Streets by giving local entrepreneurs the tools to create small businesses that meet local needs, and to create local cultural and tourism industries that make their town distinct. Rather than look to lure grantrepreneurs, micropolitan leaders seek to support entrepreneurs.

Mactaquac in Fall

In this approach, New Brunswick doesn't aim to be Toronto Jr. Rather, our small cities, towns, villages, rural areas, and natural vistas should be seen as assets, as strategic advantages in promoting job creation and economic growth. We should be confident of who we are and of the quality of life advantages New Brunswick offers.

In my campaign's jobs plan – which I've suggested Liberals should introduce in the Legislature immediately after our convention – I have outlined the proposal for a “one more job” small-business summit, with the aim of creating 26,000 jobs for the 26,000 small businesses in this province. This would amount to an investment in local entrepreneurs throughout our province’s cities, towns, villages, and rural areas, revitalizing these communities through local businesses, and create an opportunity for networking and mentorship for entrepreneurs.

It's also time for the creation of a capital bank which would include micro-credit for new entrepreneurs – “indie capitalism” – to encourage the creation of new business enterprises in our communities. This would mean the creation of new businesses and jobs from Caraquet to Edmundston, from St. Stephen to Woodstock to Sackville, chosen through the acumen and leadership of private sector and community leaders, not politicized grants.

We have already heard of the benefits of buying and eating locally – this has economic benefits to local farmers and ecological benefits in reducing transportation costs. We must add to this the need to “invest locally” so that buying and eating locally becomes more viable.

The reforms I would propose for Business New Brunswick would include an entrepreneurship desk to provide private sector lenders networks across the province, as well as the facilitation of business mentorship for new entrepreneurs and access to angel investors. Providing this help to small business is essential to revitalizing communities throughout New Brunswick based on their own unique advantages, building on the strengths of local entrepreneurship, community enterprise aimed at building up New Brunswick’s communities.

In addition to promoting entrepreneurship and job creation, we need to make New Brunswick’s cities, towns, and villages the kinds of hubs of creativity that attract young professionals and innovative entrepreneurs. Providing support – for example through an infrastructure bank – to local theatre, artists, music, and cultural festivals would be an important step in this regard. Fredericton – long a centre for artistic and creative endeavours – has been able to attract a strong IT sector.

St. Andrews, NB

Furthermore, such local festivals promote tourism. Consider Park City Utah, a once struggling mining town that has now become a centre of independent film with the Sundance Film Festival. America's National Governors' Association has identified a rural arts strategy as a key to job creation, yet New Brunswick, so well positioned as a bilingual, bicultural province, hasn't even started this work.

Sustainable development must be at the core of any micropolitan strategy. This means encouraging and revitalizing walkable downtowns that serve as community centres and hubs of creative and entrepreneurial activity. This means limiting the kind of sprawl that often unnecessarily eats into agricultural lands and landscapes, and erodes the unique character of our cities, towns, villages, and rural landscapes.

It also means making sure that government departments work together in supporting economic development plans. Ensuring that the Department of agriculture supports "farm-to-table" businesses and networks, restoring funding for the entrepreneurial community schools program the UN recognized (and the Tories cut), and seeing our environment as a competitive advantage when we look at issues like hydrofracking and open pit mining -- these would all help.

Smaller cities and communities don't have to accept boarded-up Main Streets and dependence on bailed-out businesses. The world is full of small towns who have built world-class businesses by helping local entrepreneurs meet local needs, and found a niche in culture and tourism. We have unlimited creativity in our people. We are only limited by the creativity of government, and that is a problem that can be easily fixed.

5 Progressive Ideas to Create Jobs and Grow the Economy

Lamrock releases jobs policy

FREDERICTON (Jan. 24, 2012) - Prospective Liberal leadership candidate Kelly Lamrock released a five-pronged proposal on Tuesday to create jobs and grow the New Brunswick economy.

"The Alward Conservatives are completely fixated on cutting spending and have lost sight of the importance of creating jobs," Lamrock said.  "In the meantime, our province has lost over 3,000 jobs and no amount of spending cuts will replace the dignity of the unemployed or, more importantly to the Conservatives, the tax revenues their jobs generated."

Lamrock who is currently touring the province as he assesses whether or not to seek the leadership of the provincial Liberal Party said that he has heard from dozens of New Brunswickers that they're worried about the economy.

"Our kids are moving west in droves and hard-working families struggle to make ends meet.  This isn't the change people were looking for when they voted in 2010," Lamrock said. "We need to restore hope and we need to create good jobs.  I've heard from a lot of people and their ideas have inspired this proposal."

Lamrock is calling for a job creation strategy that focuses on the following five areas:

- Creating a tax forgiveness period for companies who bring overseas profits back to NB to create jobs and stimulate the economy.

- A "One More Job" small business summit aimed at helping each of NB's 26,000 small businesses add one job.

- Replacing government bailouts of unprofitable businesses with a public/private access to capital bank,  including a microcredit program for new entrepreneurs

- Ensuring that NB has the most competitive tax structure in North America for rewarding private sector R&D

- Strategic investments in the creative economy, including a creative infrastructure bank overseen by an arms-length board from government.

Mr. Lamrock said that if he becomes Liberal Leader, he would force a debate in the Legislature on a jobs bill in the first session. "People have had enough of this government telling them to want less. They want a reason to hope again."

"I look forward to hearing from more from the people of New Brunswick inside and outside of the Liberal Party over the coming weeks," Lamrock said. "I believe that there is a strong desire out there for a true progressive alternative in this province."

Lamrock, 41, is a practicing lawyer in Fredericton.  He previously served two terms as MLA for Fredericton-Fort Nashwaak as well as minister of education, minister of social development and attorney general.  While education minister, he chaired the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada and CONFEMEN, the conference of education ministers from French-speaking countries around the world.

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French translation follows.

Lamrock partage sa vision pour la création d’emplois

FREDERICTON (le 24 janvier 2012) Candidat prospectif à la direction libérale, Kelly Lamrock a publié Mardi une proposition de cinq volets visant la création d’emplois et la croissance économique au Nouveau-Brunswick.

« Les conservateurs de David Alward sont complètement concentrés sur la réduction des dépenses et ont perdu de vue l'importance de la création d'emplois », selon Lamrock. Entre-temps, notre province a perdu plus de 3 000 emplois et aucune réduction de dépenses réussira à restaurer la dignité des chômeurs ou, surtout pour les conservateurs, les revenus d’impôts que représentaient ces emplois.

Lamrock, qui est actuellement en tournée dans la province alors comme qu’il songeévalue ou non à soumettre sa candidature demander à la direction du Parti libéral provincial, soutient que de nombreux Néo-Brunswickois se disenta déclaré qu'il a entendu des dizaines de personnes au Nouveau-Brunswick qu'ils sont inquiets par rapportde à l'économie.

« Nos enfants se déplacent vers l’Ouest en grand nombre, et nos familles travaillent fort simplement afin de joindre les deux bouts, » a déclaré Lamrock. « Ce n'est pas le genre de changement que  les personnes envisageaient  lorsqu'ils ont voté en 2010.  Nous devons rétablir leur espoir et nous devons créer de bons emplois. Les gens ont partagé leurs idées avec moi, et c’est eux qui ont inspiré cette proposition. »

Lamrock fait appel à une stratégie de création d'emplois qui se concentre sur les cinq domaines suivants :

- La création d'une banque d'infrastructure pour les industries créatives et des arts, dirigée par un conseil indépendant composé par des entrepreneurs et des artistes.

- La remplacement des bourses pour des enterprises non-rentables avec une fonde pour améliorer l'accès à capital pour des entrepreneurs

-Les crédits d'impot les plus compétitives dans l'Amérique du pour la recherche et développement pour attirer les emplois verts et créatives

- Un sommet  pour les 26 000 petites entreprises pour chercher ensemble les façons pour chaque petite enterprise de grandir par un emploi  ; et

-Un crédit d'impôt pour les entreprises qui utilisent des bénéfices provenant de l'étranger pour créer des emplois au Nouveau-Brunswick.

M. Lamrock a affirmé que, s'il devient chef du parti Libéral, les Libéraux lancera un débat législative sur un projet de loi pour des emplois comme une première priorité. <<Les Néo-Brunswickois veulent l'espoir, non plus de la défaitisme du gouvernement Alward>>

« J'ai hâte de rencontrer plus de gens dans les semaines à venir,  à l'intérieur du Parti libéral ainsi qu’à l'extérieur » ajoute Lamrock.  « Je crois qu'il existe un fort désir pour un alternative progressiste parmi les gens de cette province. »

Lamrock, 41, est avocat employé à Fredericton. Il fut, à deux reprises, élu en tant que député dans la circonscription provinciale de Fredericton-Fort Nashwaak. En tant que ministre de l'éducation, il a présidé le Conseil des ministres de l'éducation du Canada ainsi que la CONFEMEN, la Conférence des ministres de l'éducation des pays francophones. Lamrock fut aussi ministre du développement social, ainsi que procureur général du Nouveau-Brunswick.

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6 Ideas for Reforming Business New Brunswick

Regular readers will know that I've questioned the Alward government for focussing on the deficit at the expense of a real jobs agenda. Yes, the fiscal balance needs to change, but if we are going to withdraw public money from the economy during a global slowdown, we had better have some solid plans on economic development.

The government department that quarterbacks this strategy needs to be part of that plan.  So far, the promise of more private sector expertise at InvestNB has not really changed how the department operates. Judging by the flow of press releases in the Minister's name, it's the same game plan with an advisory board in place. 

At a recent leadership candidates' forum I was asked about BNB reform. Here are some ideas I offered...

(1)    Re-think staff structure.  Good businesses guide employees through incentives, not micromanagement. Business New Brunswick should reflect this -- each unit should have measurable goals and targets, with staff paid based on results, with incentive pay for bringing companies and jobs into the province.

(2)    Build government's skill-set.  Too often, economic development teams hire those with experience in government agencies, affirming the culture of subsidies and saving existing businesses. Priority should be placed on bringing in private sector talent skilled in sales and global contacts, and we should use headhunting agencies where appropriate.

(3)    Go after the markets with emerging middle classes.  The fact we have no emerging market strategy to go after the 500 million new middle class consumers in China, India and Russia...let alone one for the African nations like Ghana and Rwanda who had double-digit economic growth rates, shows how locked BNB has been in subsidizing what we have.  For emerging markets, there needs to be a clear strategy to establish business contacts with countries that have growing economies, like China and India, with staff to support them. For instance, the lack of a China strategy, and staff with language skills and connections to that market, needs to be remedied.

(4)    End preferential treatment of industries.  We have rigid rules about what sectors we will, and won’t support, which sounds like government picking winners and losers to me.  Let's use community plans and strengths to develop cluster strategies that offer effective job creation tools with clear measurement of results and greater focus on mentorship and angel investor help to foster new enterprises and jobs rather than bailouts.

(5)    Create an Entrepreneurship Desk to deal with the soft barriers to new business.  Too often, new businesspeople from the Maritime Provinces lack the mentorship and help they need in finding needed angel investors, or capital, or just advice. We need to encourage private sector leaders to design networks across the province, country, and world that erase the competitive disadvantages faced by rural communities in New Brunswick.

(6)     Ensure every department understands its job creation mission.  InvestNB's private sector expertise should be used to have a jobs audit of every department, maximizing their role in the economy. For example, the National Governors' Association in the U.S. has a Rural Arts-based Economic Development manual, but our Culture department doesn't have a desk for those issues. The Education Department hasn’t gotten strategic advice from BNB in leveraging their foreign schools to open markets. Reinventing government for a jobs-based mission should be a government-wide initiative led by BNB. 

These are just a few steps that can be taken to reform Business New Brunswick, and make it an effective agency to foster entrepreneurship, open new markets, and especially create jobs.

THE FIRST DEFICIT-FIGHTING TOOL WE NEED IS..... HONESTY

We've seen this show too many times before - a candidate says whatever a pollster tells them to say on the campaign trail, often making unrealistic promises, and then they disregard these promises once faced with the hard realities of governing.

You can find examples of lots of politicians skimming the truth, but David Alward's Progressive Conservatives take the prize, with their repeated campaign pledges in 2010 to not raise taxes... only to have raised taxes in their first budget and now talk about raising taxes again in their second budget.

As this Bob Jones piece on the CBC shows clearly, the Tories' rhetoric was always to deny they would have to raise taxes. "We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem" was part of their written talking points, and they ran as the party of low taxes. When you hear the Premier now say when he said "we will hold the line on taxes that affect ordinary New Brunswickers" that he really, really meant only sales taxes, he makes the error worse because it is doubling down on a lie. He would be better to cop to the fact that he ran not knowing much about the job of Premier, and people were so mad at the incumbent that he chose not to think to hard about it.

The real problem is that politics-as-usual avoids the serious discussion we need in this province about our budget and about our economy. I've often said that I believed that in a global recession, New Brunswick was right to spend to keep people working and money flowing in communities. The capital budget and the enhanced social spending for working families (who tend to spend money in their communities) kept businesses afloat and families solvent. That's why every Western democracy -including the Harper government- did similar things. It's also why, as even Premier Alward acknowledged after he disposed of the Liberals at the polls, "New Brunswick weathered the recession fairly well". In many cases, like in the U.S. and Britain, governments who cut too quickly after saw the recovery swoon again and jobless numbers rise.

But I've also said that I think it was an error to keep the deep tax cuts (which are inefficient stimulus) for the wealthy, because it left a structure in place that would hurt our ability to repay that necessary stimulus.  It never weakened my resolve to be a Liberal - the Tory line then was to cut spending and keep the tax cuts, which was worse - but I do think we should roll back those tax cuts for folks like me who can share in the sacrifice.

But David Alward got to rail against deficits, promise more social spending, and say he would hold the line on taxes. He should be grateful he got away with it; mere decency would suggest he should acknowledge it now and thank people for the chance to put it right by governing with more intellectual integrity than he showed in the campaign.

The real weakness of Alward's approach -- that in the campaign he seemed to suggest government had failed if it made any decision that angered anyone; that with enough consultation no one need ever disagree -- is that it leads to bad government.  Alward's Tories want to please everyone, which ultimately means that those with the least voice - the poor and vulnerable - suffer, as seen with the Alward government's rolling back of our government's anti-poverty program.  It's a program David Alward proclaimed his support for on the campaign trail, but it harms those who don't have much power, so a weak leader who fears controversy will drift into picking on the weak, like school kids and the poor.

We need a frank and adult conversation about our province's finances, and we need to be honest. I have already put out my position that we need to look at new sources of revenue. I have proposed - in the spirit of bi-partisanship - to roll back the Graham tax cuts for those earning over $100,000 per year and use that money to invest in education (K-12 and post-secondary) which is vital if we are to have a growing economy, as a skilled workforce is essential in a 21st century global economy.

David Alward was never willing to have this discussion. But I say we challenge him, and ourselves, to rise above the tired politics as usual.  Let's attack the deficit without this doublespeak, and phony consultations where the Minister passively let's everyone vent and then says he's decided, say, that schools needed cutting because he's sure he heard that somewhere.

A short-term deficit was a tough, but necessary, decision to weather the recession together.  Now, let's come together as citizens to share in the sacrifice of paying for that necessity.  We can start by engaging in a public consultation process similar to that undertaken during the development of the poverty reduction strategy. We bring government, private business, and citizens together; we open the books and we work through solutions. When engaged as responsible adults New Brunswickers take to the task at hand and come up with solutions that are recognized and praised nationally.

We need to do this again for our finances. Let's get a citizen's assembly of 100 citizens together with business and NGO leaders.  Make sure teachers, and parents, and entrepreneurs, and those living in poverty are in the room.  Open the books.  Let citizens see what cabinet sees.  Make the deliberations live on the web and invite feedback and questions.  Develop a people's budget plan based on real, honest debate.

 And when asked how we will rein in a $700million deficit without more revenues or cutting expenses, let's be honest enough to say it will actually take both.  You can't find $700million by cutting the poor -- if they had it, they wouldn't be poor. You won't find it in schools that were the lowest-funded in Canada under the Lord government and only started to catch up under Shawn Graham.  But we will trust the voters with real information and engage, because citizens could hardly show less courage or do worse than the politicians are doing right now.

We need a serious discussion about New Brunswick's economic future. Mr. Alward did not run as a serious candidate, and he is losing time to act as a serious premier.  As Liberals, let's trust that the people grasp the seriousness of the moment -- and reward honest leadership.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 21st Century New Brunswick

Radian6's Fredericton Headquarters: An example to be emulated.

A recent news story about New Brunswick from the Globe and Mail caught my attention (you know it's a big deal when Canada's "national" newspaper actually notices us). The story was about a successful Fredericton entrepreneur, Chris Newton, who was behind the founding of two successful New Brunswick IT companies, Radian6 and Q1 Labs.

The article refers to these success stories as: <em>"Transforming the image of New Brunswick from a have-not province dominated by pulp, petroleum and potato barons to an innovation hotbed populated by smart young techies and risk-embracing entrepreneurs."</em>

The older industrial and agriculture sectors - pulp and paper, petroleum refining, and agriculture - are important parts of New Brunswick's economic heritage. Yet even these are changing; and a new emphasis on skilled labour will demand that we reward companies that invest in R&D and worker training. We need to look ahead, seize on new opportunities in bio-technology, green sectors, and information technology. On economic development, we have to move beyond the old smokestacks approach - something that was brought home with the failure of the second oil refinery in Saint John to materialize. We also cannot just recklessly throw money around in fits of crony capitalism.

Such a forward-looking approach also means we cannot pine over past industries, such as the building of wooden ships in the 19th century, and we cannot seek to get by on nice-sounding platitudes and generalities.

The internet and new communications technologies have opened up new opportunities away from major urban centres such as Toronto, Montreal, New York City, and Boston. Through "telecommuting", employees at Radian6 in Fredericton can have meetings with colleagues in New York, Toronto, or Tokyo. These are opportunities which Chris Newton has been able to seize upon, and which our province as a whole must now act to seize upon too.

Compared to larger cities, New Brunswick offers many quality of life advantages: shorter commutes (Toronto has among the worse commutes in the world), closeness to nature, outdoor recreational activities, beautiful scenery, historic cities and towns, and of course the friendliness of New Brunswick's people.

Smaller jurisdictions such as Vermont and Fargo, North Dakota (yes, THAT Fargo), have seized upon such advantages and built strong creative and high-tech economic sectors. We need to do the same in New Brunswick.

So what needs to be done? In an earlier post I offered some thoughts on economic development. Building on these themes, it is important to invest in education and post-secondary education (which includes promoting accessibility rather than limiting it as the Alward government has done through reintroducing the parental contribution requirement for student loans).

Also, we need to explore how our post-secondary institutions can work with young entrepreneurs and local businesses to foster new economic opportunities - as, for example, Waterloo University in Waterloo, Ontario has done in fostering the growth of a strong IT-sector in that city. These same universities will be instrumental in finding ways to modernize New Brunswick's traditional industries while our Community Colleges can help upgrade our current labour force while training young New Brunswickers with the necessary skills to work and build careers in forestry and manufacturing like so many before them.

We cannot take a laissez-faire approach of relying only on tax cuts - as the New Brunswick NDP would do with its plan to abolish Business New Brunswick. BNB desperately needs reform and refocus, and the next blog post will touch on that. But the idea that we don't need to build contacts in a global economy is naive in the extreme. We must promote programs that actively encourage, mentor, and provide support to new entrepreneurs. Radian6, in its early days, recieved crucial backing from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation. We need to build on success stories like this.

The opportunties are there - Q1 and Radian6 prove that - but we need a provincial government that recognizes and seize upon these opportunities. New Brunswick a lot of potential, we cannot afford to waste it.