CBC Maritimes

Don Mills, the President of the Maritime-based polling firm Corporate Research Associates says political leaders are unwilling to make the unpopular decisions that are needed to get a handle on provincial finances.

No Easy Task: In an economic climate darkened by clouds of burgeoning debt loads, political leaders have to make complex choices about what they will and will not fund. And we all seem to want more services, better roads, new schools and top notch health care. Don Mills is the CEO and president of Corporate Research Associates. His firm has been polling in the Maritimes for the last twenty years, and he's discouraged by what he claims is the inability of political leaders to make tough decisions. He also suggests that a province like Nova Scotia is over governed.

Enrollment Up: Universities in the Maritimes have been bracing for what experts have been predicting for years - a decline in enrollment. An aging population means there are fewer school-aged children in the region, and that means university graduating classes will be smaller in the future. So how to explain the statistics released yesterday by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission? They show enrollment is up at Maritime universities for the second time in two years. The CBC's Jennifer Henderson caught up with Tim O'Neil, an economist who recently wrote a report on universities for the government of Nova Scotia, to ask for his assessment.

On the Phone In: Bonnie Adams of Barley, Malt and Vine in Saint John answered all your questions about making beer or wine at home.