Just in from the MiniBiz

"Speaking at the Mount Pearl Chamber of Commerce this morning, Business Minister Paul Oram said the province’s future is strong, and remains an attractive place to do business."

So reported the Telegram the other week.

Such an attractive place to do business, in fact, that according to the provincial government's own stats, the number of business enterprises, at least up to 2006, had declined in almost every region of the province as compared to when the Paul Oram Danny Williams-Government took office.:

                                  2003 2004 2005 2006 
Labrador                           924  896  892  848
St. Anthony—Port au Choix          582  568  544  537
Corner Brook—Rocky Harbour        1665 1632 1605 1584
Stephenville—Port aux Basques      908  893  881  851
Grand Falls-Windsor—
  Baie Verte—Harbour Breton       1639 1615 1576 1522
Gander—New-Wes-Valley             1686 1629 1582 1572
Clarenville—Bonavista             1029 1020 1018 1003
Burin Peninsula                    646  611  598  579
Avalon Peninsula                  8035 8189 8116 8067
  of which  Capital Coast         6309 6433 6499 6508
  "  "  rural rest of Avalon      1726 1756 1617 1559

It's a good thing the future is strong, at least — is it still "ours"? is it also "proud" and "determined", that future? — because some people are starting to wonder about the present.