I’ve had a little feedback on the column last week where I push hard on the importance of municipal government playing a role in population attraction and the pursuit of economic development opportunities.
The feedback was fairly straightforward - 95% of our municipalities are too small to get involved in attracting population or in the pursuit of economic development and, BTW, isn’t that why we have an ONB and a provincial department dedicated to population growth and workforce development?
I’m not asking for a municipality with 1,000 residents - or even 10,000 - to mount a team of professionals to go out hustling for investment and wooing people to move in. I am asking for every municipality - with 300 residents or 75,000 residents - to make the development of economic opportunities and population attraction a priority.
At this moment, unless the municipality has a five-alarm problem needing to be addressed, items #1 and #2 on the council’s weekly agenda should be how are we doing in the pursuit of economic opportunities and how are we doing with our plan to attract population?
First off, if you don’t have a plan to pursue economic opportunities or attract population then you need to start there.
If you are a village or town with a few hundred or a few thousand residents you should be focused on what services should be in this municipality and how can we attract them here? If your village/catchment area is large enough to support a dentist, where is the plan to attract a dentist? Where is the plan to fill out main street with local businesses to make the town attractive for residents? Do you have daycare? What, you don’t care? You should.
What is the status of those regional projects - mining opportunities, tourism opportunities, agriculture? What? You aren’t working on any regional projects? You should.
How about population planning. Have you engaged with your top employers to determine their needs? What is the plan? The folks at PETL/ONB are in that business but you need to engage. Do you have a housing plan? A newcomer settlement plan? Are you too small? Then engage with regional partners or convince the groups doing this stuff in the cities to put a satellite in your community.
We are well beyond discussion of jurisdiction here. We need to work together through/with the provincial and federal governments to work on growing the economy and population.
But there is a distinct role for municipal governments (and regional partnerships). The provincial government doesn’t give two hoots about whether or not you attract a dentist to your town but your residents do - and so do your future prospective residents.
There are communities across New Brunswick that are leaning in. They are building highly livable places. They are working to infill their main street with small, local services providers. They are beavering away to make themselves an attractive place for people and investment.
We need this attitude across the province.
There are a hundred other things municipal councils have to work on. If items #1 and #2 on the council’s weekly agenda are not #1 economic opportunities and #2 population growth, you might just be rearranging chairs on the municipal equivalent of the Titanic.
1000 % David. ... even more, the councils can do what Nackawic has and set up and help seed fund a locally based economic development corp. To engage local residents and business people in the rural region around them. Its working... See www.destinationnackawic.ca
..but the province needs to co invest here as well.. Hope to talk soon David
100% correct.