Certain aspirations for NB

Last week, while attending a workshop on financial analysis (surprisingly interesting!) in Fredericton, I had the chance to meet with a retired NB politician. I was curious to hear his views on NB's progress toward sustainability...He believes that NB should invest in becomnig a leader in knowledge. This would involve creating a world class training institution that would attract people from all over the globe and teach them the skills needed to meet the demand for trades people in Alberta. He feels that our main competitive advantage is cheap living costs compared to the rest of North America, and that this will be enough to entice people to move here to obtain their post-secondary education. I asked him if this was truly a move toward self-sufficiency, given that the college would still depend on provincial funding to operate (funding that would probably be obtained from the federal gov't)? He assured me that private investors (Shell, Exon, etc.) would cover the capital costs and that the gov't would only need to contribute a small amount in the following years. When asked about job creation here in NB - since most of these people would be prepped and groomed to leave our province for work - I was told that the college itself would provide a large number of employment opportunities. I left the meeting impressed by the politician's enthusiasm, but wary of his vision. I qusetioned whether creating jobs for professors was actually a reflection of the true challenges faced by our province...Love to hear your thoughts..