Atlantic Institute for Policy Research Highlights
Economic policy commentary and research from the AIPR

The first year of the JDI Roundtable on Manufacturing Competitiveness in New Brunswick was about establishing a baseline of information about New Brunswick’s manufacturing sector and broadly identifying its challenges and opportunities. We had hoped to get some direction for Year 2 research topics from the discussions, comments, and observations of the first JDI Roundtable Forum.

We were not disappointed.

Already, our JDI Roundtable researchers are deep into a comparative analysis of New Brunswick’s immigration programs and streams and how they work for both employers and prospective immigrants.

As those who attended the event may recall, Premier Higgs made an unexpected return visit to the conference on September 26 to challenge JDI Roundtable delegates to come up with three recommendations for action for his government to consider.

We have reviewed research and transcripts from the Roundtable Forum and compiled the results of our survey of delegates. Our recommendations for action centre around three issues: 1) workforce development 2) the need for an export-focused strategy and 3) a lighthouse strategy to maximize ROI on economic development efforts.

Read the full recommendations document. 

These recommendations aren’t intended to be “home runs” in solving all that ails New Brunswick’s manufacturing sector. To continue the baseball analogy, they are intended to get us on base so we can keep moving in the right direction.

Over the next twelve months, we will be putting together smaller workshops around the province with manufacturers to understand the specific policies and practices within New Brunswick’s business environment that impact investment, innovation, and expansion decisions of our manufacturers.