Opinion

Atlantic Canadian small businesses should brace themselves for the $15 minimum wage. Alberta and Ontario have both bought into the idea, and now British Columbia’s new Green NDP coalition has it on the table. Canada’s largest labour unions are funding the ‘Fight for 15’ campaign, bolstered by the federal and provincial NDP and social justice activists. The arguments being made are as deceptive as they are compelling.

I’m delighted this week to speak with Jean-Michel Blais, chief of Halifax Regional Police.

Chief Blais spent 25 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. During that time, he completed his first mission with the United Nations in Haiti as a civilian police officer and, following his return, worked predominantly on organized motorcycle gangs and Colombian drug cartels.

This week on Fall Back Up, perhaps one of the most important yet least talked about issues facing entrepreneurs—their own mental health.

I first met Michael DeVenney after he reached out to me to discuss an initiative he is working on called The Mindset Project.

As an advocate for small business, job one is getting issues in front of politicians. Prior to this election, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) presented each of the parties in the Nova Scotia election a small business platform outlining key areas our 5,200 members in Nova Scotia have identified as priorities.

This week, I have two more episodes of Fall Back Up for you to listen to. In the first I talk with Bill Carr, actor, commentator, motivational speaker, restorative justice specialist and now president of the Professional Speakers Federation.

Last year, Richard Saillant, the former director of the Donald J. Savoie Institute at the Université de Moncton published A Tale of Two Countries, How the Great Demographic Imbalance is Pulling Canada Apart. His argument centres on how provincial governments must change the way they are doing business or the burden of our demography will eventually prove unbearable.

This week on Fall Back Up, I have a double header of podcasts for you with two of my favourite people.

First, Malcolm Fraser.

Back in the early ’90s, Malcolm saw a business opportunity in something called the Internet. Over the years, he built Internet Solutions Ltd. (ISL) into one of Atlantic Canada’s largest web marketing and development companies.

There was a great deal of chatter about “restraint” around the provincial budget. It’s not surprising however as the election buses travel the province, there is not much sign of it.

As each of the parties find new and exciting ways to attract voters with their own taxes, any sign of spending restraint is being left in the exhaust fumes of the accelerating campaign machinery.