Does Atlantic Canada exist?
Not that long ago I was in Saint John for a meeting where we were discussing tourism. I asked how of them had been to the Acadian Peninsula for a visit. In a room of more than a dozen only one hand went up. After that out of curiosity I would ask folks from the south of the province how many had visited the northeast and invariably the answer would be no. When I asked why not the answer was normally something like when we travel we like to go to [fill in the blank] - the States, Ontario, Europe, beaches.
To extend this little market research project, I started asking my Acadian friends how many have visited Saint John for tourism and to my surprise most of them had not. They might have gone for business but never for tourism. Where do they go with their scarce vacation days? Quebec. Some said Nova Scotia. Others further afield.
My wife and I started deliberately visiting New Brunswick some years back and we have covered most of the province. Still a few places exist - McAdam, St-Quentin, etc. Our daughter was in the NBYO so we got to see many places from Edmundston to Caraquet.
Quite frankly, I’m not even sure how much tourism marketing happens to encourage Lamequers to visit Quispamsis or vice versa. I really don’t.
I did some work a few years ago for a group representing Acadian film and TV creators. I got to see some impressive content - documentaries, comedies, interesting video content - nothing ever translated or subtitled into English so the 2/3 of NBers never get to partake in high quality cultural content produced in their province.
My point is I have a thesis we don’t spend much time to deliberately get to know each other even within New Brunswick, let alone across this thing called Atlantic Canada.
Is Atlantic Canada a thing? Is it more than just nomenclature?
I have had the privilege to do a lot of consulting work in all four Atlantic Provinces. They told me it would be hard to ‘get into’ Newfoundland and Labrador as a New Brunswick-based consultant but Mary Keith recommended me for a project and, now, nearly a decade later I have completed more than two dozen different projects on the Rock. Prince Edward Island has been fun as I have been doing consulting gigs there since before Jupia Consultants was started two decades ago. I have worked on economic development related projects in all corners of Nova Scotia from Halifax to Clare to Amherst.
I have also been deliberately trying to get know the other three Atlantic Provinces. I am currently reading Alan Doyle’s ‘biography’ of Newfoundland and Labrador called All Together Now. It’s fun. It’s kinda raucous. Of course the region cranks out lots of musical talent. Rita MacNeil’s Home I’ll Be will make you think differently about Cape Breton.
It turns out Atlantic Canada is a thing - at least if you look at trade and people flows. According to Statistics Canada, nearly one in four dollars worth of exports from PEI go to the rest of Atlantic Canada. Adjusted for population size or as a share of GDP, the Atlantic Provinces do trade with each other far more than other provinces.
If you look at people flows, Ontario is the top destination for Atlantic Canadian migrants but Atlantic Canada is high on the list. Nova Scotia is the second most common destination for Islanders and New Brunswickers.
What about tourism? Well if we use the dollars spent on accommodations as a proxy, PEI is doing the heavy lifting here spending 35% of the total off-Island spending on room or unit accommodation services for travellers in the other three Atlantic Provinces. Nova Scotians spend more in Ontario but New Brunswick comes up as the second most popular destination (yes, the Bluenosers mingle with the Herring chokers). New Brunswickers spend more in Ontario and Quebec (see above) but still relative to population size spend a lot in Atlantic Canada.
Can and should we deliberately manufacture stronger ties within Atlantic Canada?
I think the answer should be yes. More than just a shared Maritime tradition, the region has many similar opportunities and challenges. We are small and could benefit from the scale that could come from working together. I truly believe we could benefit collectively from better alignment and cooperation on issues such as foreign direct investment, immigration, venture capital, energy, mining, agriculture, air travel, etc. and from encouraging more trade and economic integration within the region.
And I think we could to more travel within the region. Islanders spent $10.3 million on accommodations in Nova Scotia in 2019 and only $1.1 million in Newfoundland and Labrador. Yes, air travel is a primary issue here -but that should be something we work on together.
Beggar thy neighbour or good on ya!?
One of the longstanding issues is the fear that one province might get ahead of another. I have been verbally warned in New Brunswick to stop talking about the success that PEI has seen in recent years - in population and GDP growth. If Saskatchewan is booming and your province is not, that doesn’t really matter. If PEI is booming and you are not, that can be annoying. We need to put that behind us. If one area is doing well, good on ya. What can we learn from you?
Determination matters
If we are going to try and grow the region’s economy and population through better collaboration, it will be important to develop and work on specific initiatives. This could be sectoral, or promotion outside our borders ( investment and people attraction), or business environment issues. Letting New Brunswick bees fly into Nova Scotia should be on the docket.
One longstanding issue that is not likely to be resolved anytime soon is the issue of subsidies and taxation. Ideally, all four provinces would have similar tax rates and similar industrial incentives. But that is not the case. Without getting into specifics one of the four spends the most on industrial incentives relative to GDP and one spends the least. According to the Ernst & Young personal income tax calculator, at $150,000/year, your income tax bill in Nova Scotia will be $3,000 more than in New Brunswick (your tax bill with just the personal basic tax credit applied and no other deductions).
In the end, better economic integration in Atlantic Canada is likely to benefit all four provinces.
Atlantic Canada does exist - it’s more than just a label - but there is much more we could do together.
Just a couple of comments David. In reading your post I was struck by two different components with somewhat different impacts.
The first was the tourism aspects. I fully agree with all the comments including your own - the more we do in our own province/region the better. All provinces have their internal issues (there is no love loss between Cape Breton folks and Halifax folks for a variety of reasons as just one example) but New Brunswick has the most challenging one. You can draw a line from Grand Falls to Moncton (with the exception of the Miramichi), and like it or not there is "language line" borne from a lot of sobering history between the English and French in this province . Through government efforts those are fading, thank God ,but it still looms as a psychological barrier to easy travel. In my opinion people travel where they feel "comfortable" and language is part of that. Why risk a lack of "French" impacting a vacation when going to PEI or NS is a sure thing i.e. nearly all English. Similarly those francophones in northern NB likely feel greater comfort visiting Quebec City (predominately French which is Acadians' mother tongue) than going to English NB or other Maritime "English" areas. This "problem" has never been a problem for me when travelling (and I do try to use my weak French just out of respect). To me language is no longer an issue when travelling (especially with bilingualism now in most francophone areas) but any change in people's habits and beliefs often happens very slowly and always trails reality.
The second aspect that David touched on is related to economic growth and competition between provinces vs. cooperation. This is an area that I had personal experience in while working in the economic. I agree that more Atlantic Canadian cooperation would help build our economies and that should be applauded . Some recent moves by these provinces to increase cooperation and lower barriers are a good start but more needs to be done. However, as David pointed out, we can applaud success in Western Canada but be jealous of success in our own backyard by another province (just like within families). Despite cooperation where possible you are never going to eliminate inter-provincial rivalries. competition - that is the nature of provinces. That is not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion. It focuses effort and brings real accountability to economic development strategies and spending. At one time (the McKenna era) all looked with jealously at NB's economic development success, today it may be PEI. One additional reason has been added to the competition challenge. Halifax has worked tirelessly to position itself as the unofficial "capital" of Atlantic Canada. It hosts national and international events (like its Security Summit) to gain national and international attention. It is the only city in Atlantic Canada to be of sufficient population to qualify for entry into the new Canadian Cities Association which lobby's government, etc..(something Moncton and St. John's should be challenging imo). It has managed to get the Atlantic Canadian headquarters for most Federal departments and works endlessly to get others (like ACOA and Atlantic Lottery both of which are in Moncton - so far). This effort to be a mini-Boston (as Donald Savoie approriately named it) is an actual threat to the rest of the region as it can become the default location for a lot of incoming investment into our region. If you doubt that, just speak with people in New England state governments that are not from Massachusetts (Boston). It is important to note that today, as Boston does, our regions broadcast media (TV) almost all comes out of Halifax. As such there is a steady drumbeat of Halifax as the Atlantic leader in everything. News items here are increasingly framed as "what is good for Halifax is good for the rest of Atlantic Canada" . Careful analysis of this mindset shows that in reality that is not the case (The shipbuilding contract there is a good case in point - only a tiny fraction of the work leaks out of NS despite their best efforts to do as much as possible there (as any province would). The more the other provinces buy into this fallacy, the more they are shooting their future in the foot. I for one do not want to see NB sit idly by and not challenge this because , imo, this province will loose big as time goes by. Newfoundland has certainly made it clear that it will not cede to Halifax's "leadership" and neither should we. If the shoe were on the other foot and Moncton was positioning itself as the "capital" of Atlantic Canada, you can rest assured that Halifax and NS in general would fight that "tooth and nail "as anyone in inter-governmental issues/relations well knows.
David, glad you still keep the candle burning for the essential need for intergration and alingment of the economic, and I believe, the political / tax/ health/ Power/ etc. systems and infrastructure of Atlantic Canada, or at minimum, the Maritime provinces. Keep the faith ! ... but if Trumps' recent antics can't drive this home, and the feds can't force it, it will have to come from within - but what kind of disaster will it actually take. .... we know business can't lead this change alone, given the failure of Atlantica efforts.
KEEP , KEEPING THE FAITH David!