Interesting blast from the past

A friend of mine sent me this article from 1970 in the New York Times talking about economic development in New Brunswick.  Thought you might find it interesting.

There are some interesting things that stand out.  First, how did a story about New Brunswick’s economic development get into the New York Times?  One can only conclude an NYTimes reporter was one of those offered a “week‐long fishing holidays on the salmon‐filled Miramichi River”.  I hope we continue to do this.

I also wonder at the headline – “aims to restore its former wealth”.  I haven’t seen any good comparative data  from the 1870s but apparently it was better than 1970.

The size of the mining sector back then is impressive.  Over 3,500 employed in the mining sector compared to, what, less than 1,000 today?  Even more impressive as a share of the total workforce. 

When was the last time we attracted a Finnish company to New Brunswick? 

Interesting that low interest loans and loan guarantees were the incentive of choice back then.  Less of that provincially these days although that is ACOA’s approach to funding.

Also, interesting perspective on the mindset of New Brunswickers with its leaders  “short of optimism and willingness to take risks.”  “We can't succeed by being suffocatingly cautious.” Robert J. Higgins, the Minister of Economic Growth has told the business community.  

That sounds about right.

Here is the full article:

New Brunswick Aim Is to Restore Its Former Wealth (Feb. 9, 1970)

Credit...The New York Times Archives

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

FREDERICTON, New Bruns wick—This province, which was prosperous and hustling 100 years ago hut now earns only 70 per cent of the Canadian average, is engaged in economic reconstruction.

Manufacturing, shipping, fishing and logging are the ingredients of the revival along with the steady expansion of base metal mining.

Situated between Maine and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, New Brunswick has a population of 620,000, valuable timber, a strong trading tradition and close ties to the northeastern United States.

Saint John matrons, in cloth coats that bespeak taste and belie their bank balances, fly to Boston to shop and see relatives. Shipment of goods by water to Boston or New York is cheaper than overland to Montreal or Toronto. And southern New Brunswick towns resemble New England's.

Investors Sought

The men who work in one of the large, old houses of Fredericton, the provincial capital, are eyeing the United States market. They are the staff of the New Brunswick Development Corporation, a provincial agency. It searches for business opportunities and courts investors with week‐long fishing holidays on the salmon‐filled Miramichi River, loans at the prime rate plus half a percentage point, and loan guarantees. In 1969, loan commitments came to $3‐ million and guarantees totaled $5.5‐million.

The Federal Department of Regional Expansion performs a similar role. It makes cash grants to investing companies and it also finances public investment.

Since the beginning of 1969, Ottawa has committed more than $40‐million to New Bruns wick.

The authorities expect to develop on the Bay of Fundy the consultants have recommended Blacks Harbor — a modern “fishport complex,” including storage, packing, and shipping facilities. Similarly, McCain Foods Ltd., is building a $5.6‐million potato processing, plant—frozen French fries, dehydrated potatoes and animal feed — at Grand Falls. It will collect $2.9‐million in Federal incentive payments if 400 planned new jobs are realized.

James Addison, president of the Development Corporation, has engaged European consulting firms—for one reason, evidently, to bring in European investment.

Mr. Addison, a 57‐year‐old Scottish industrialist, believes: that Swedish and German companies will set up facilities to fill “gaps in the United States market” discovered by his analysts. Last summer, a Finnish ‐ owned glass‐container plant employing 100 persons opened in the Greater Moncton Industrial Park.

It and two other parks, near Dorchester and St. Andrews, and a multiple‐industry com plea to he developed at Saint John are expected to attract new enterprises.

The complex was proposed by ltalconsult of Rome as a variation of the Bari‐Tarantc industrial facilities it conceives for Southern Italy. The idea is to put a plant producing a final product near component sup pliers and repair and maintenance units.

The official prediction is that the multiple‐industry complex will create 8,000 new jobs in five years, with emphasis on metal‐working and electrical skills in which the New Brunswick labor force is said to be well‐endowed.

Considering the year‐round employment base of 194,000 last year and unemployment in excess of 18,000, an extra 8.000 new jobs may seem like a lot. In fact, the labor force is likely to grow even faster.

Expanding Services

The planners look for an expansion of port services— stevedoring, boiler repair, welding, container‐handling — in Saint John Harbor, because of a natural growth of traffic (up 11 per cent in 1969) and as a result of the planned development of a deep‐water harbor for bulk carriers at Lorneville, six miles away.

More rational cutting of the province's 26 million acres of forest, especially the hard woods, is foreseen, as are new veneer mills and furniture factories.

A British company, Airscrew Wevroc, Ltd., plans to open 813‐million board mill, its first facility abroad, in March, 1971, near Chatham. Without Federal incentives, it said the plant “would almost certainly have been sited in Scandinavia.”

Growth of Mining

In the province's bleak northeastern quarter, mining and exploration are flourishing. Development of zinc, lead copper and other deposits near Newcastle and Bathurst has in creased mining employment from 1,890 in 1962 to 3,481 in 1969, despite the phasing out of Minto's coal mines.

Enticing new industry is not the entire problem. New Brunswick is, by the admission of its own leaders, short of optimism and willingness to take risks.

“We can't succeed by being suffocatingly cautious.” Robert J. Higgins, the Minister of Economic Growth has told the business community. New Brunswick he has said, must “quit fussing about markets we used to have, or wonted to lave 100 years ago and start planning to get our share of product markets today and to morrow.”