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.
Thanks for this David. Like you I worked as a consultant (we even worked together on a project one time in Clare, as you may recall) and had the privilege of working in all four Atlantic provinces, from Yarmouth to Labrador City.
In retirement, I have spent a lot of time researching the history of photography in the Atlantic region. I call it the Early Light Project. I chose the entire region because - as a niche subject - I felt the market for my research would be just too small to focus on only one province. In the end, it was the right choice because I have found a great deal of at first inter-colonial and later inter-provincial movement of photographers here.
Think Pridham’s Studio, for example, founded in 1880 and which still has branches in New Glasgow and Amherst, which used to have a studio in Sackville NB, and which also operated Harvey’s in Fredericton. The Pridham family originates in PEI. The point is that the borders were porous for photography, as they should be for other industry and cultural exchange.
I couldn’t agree more. I have and continue to regularly tour all over Atlantic Canada.(Camping is one of the best). East, West, North and South. Incredible coastal views, beaches, hiking, golf courses, food, music, theatre, people you name it.
I have also travelled to many places in the world outside Atlantic (Italy, England,Ireland, Australia,Hawaii,Mexico,Caribbean, USA, Central and Western Canada).
There is no place more beautiful pound for pound than right here at home. And it is ok that we have different names for the same spaces. (Including Atlantic Canada). Formally I live in Alnwick , some say it’s New Jersey, we will always know it as Burnt Church and the Mi'kmaq named it Esgenoôpetitj over 1700 years ago.
We all share and are neighbours in an amazing part of the world.
We can all work together in abundance and thrive. And if you don’t like to fly you can always take a boat or a bridge.
I’ve been preaching the same thing since long before the pandemic staycation boom & the TikTok echo. We need to do more to explore close to home, so that we truly know where we live & the people we call neighbours. We have so much to offer each other in this region & we should be focusing on local travel so much more.
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!
And a bit more My Reflection on "Does Atlantic Canada Exist?"
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-reflection-does-atlantic-canada-exist-brent-sansom-elrae?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via
Thanks for this David. Like you I worked as a consultant (we even worked together on a project one time in Clare, as you may recall) and had the privilege of working in all four Atlantic provinces, from Yarmouth to Labrador City.
In retirement, I have spent a lot of time researching the history of photography in the Atlantic region. I call it the Early Light Project. I chose the entire region because - as a niche subject - I felt the market for my research would be just too small to focus on only one province. In the end, it was the right choice because I have found a great deal of at first inter-colonial and later inter-provincial movement of photographers here.
Think Pridham’s Studio, for example, founded in 1880 and which still has branches in New Glasgow and Amherst, which used to have a studio in Sackville NB, and which also operated Harvey’s in Fredericton. The Pridham family originates in PEI. The point is that the borders were porous for photography, as they should be for other industry and cultural exchange.
Thanks for your work over all these years.
I couldn’t agree more. I have and continue to regularly tour all over Atlantic Canada.(Camping is one of the best). East, West, North and South. Incredible coastal views, beaches, hiking, golf courses, food, music, theatre, people you name it.
I have also travelled to many places in the world outside Atlantic (Italy, England,Ireland, Australia,Hawaii,Mexico,Caribbean, USA, Central and Western Canada).
There is no place more beautiful pound for pound than right here at home. And it is ok that we have different names for the same spaces. (Including Atlantic Canada). Formally I live in Alnwick , some say it’s New Jersey, we will always know it as Burnt Church and the Mi'kmaq named it Esgenoôpetitj over 1700 years ago.
We all share and are neighbours in an amazing part of the world.
We can all work together in abundance and thrive. And if you don’t like to fly you can always take a boat or a bridge.
I’ve been preaching the same thing since long before the pandemic staycation boom & the TikTok echo. We need to do more to explore close to home, so that we truly know where we live & the people we call neighbours. We have so much to offer each other in this region & we should be focusing on local travel so much more.