REVISITING: How do we fix Cape Breton?

Ah, the beginnings of the bustling metropolis of...Port Morien? Wait, what?

When I first saw pictures like the one above, it took me a long while for my adolescent brain to make sense of them. In the world I came from, there were one billion more humans on earth compared to when I was born, and even Saturday Morning cartoons harped on overpopulation causing global food and energy crises. I was also living in Warner Robins, Georgia, which was growing so fast we got a new All-You-Can-Eat Chinese Buffett every second Tuesday. So in my world of ever-expanding crab rangoon options, I could not conceptualize the idea of a place actually shrinking. The world was growing. That's just what it did. 

Don't let the "crab" in the name fool you. They're just fried pockets of cream cheese, which is exactly as amazing as it sounds.

So when I see pictures of Port Morien with a bustling main street and open businesses, I still get confused. At this point, it's nigh impossible to spend a loonie in Port Morien. There is no store. There is no restaurant. You cannot buy gum, or milk, or rent a movie. My grandfather once ran the chowder house on Marconi Trail, but today, a loonie in Port Morien contains more value as a projectile weapon than as a unit of currency. Besides a Bed & Breakfast and the Legion, Glace Bay is the nearest place to actually use money.

If you replace the Cheap Store with a Dollarama, and the three-piece suits with pajama bottoms, you get 2015. Hmmm. Ew.

And Port Morien isn't alone in this dwindling population, pajama-bottom future. It's just the one I'm most familiar with because I spent a good amount of my youth there, and it pains me to think that such a gorgeous, textbook Cape Breton harbor-town has little to no reason for tourists to actually visit. But small communities everywhere, from Arichat to Meat Cove are facing the same challenges Some people might take offense at the title of this article, saying that I'm implying that Cape Breton is somehow "broken." Well, too bad. That's exactly what I'm implying. Here are the...

Three Problems Facing Cape Breton Today

(Disclaimer: Rory hasn't actually lived here that long and doesn't know the first thing about economics or local history. His bosses are currently scratching their heads as to why he's writing this, as he's completely unqualified in every way to discuss these highly complex problems. However, he's going to do it anyways, because he's not that smart.)

The odds of Rory solving Cape Breton's problems are roughly the same as a Labradoodle discovering cold fusion.

Problem 1: An Aging Population


Japan is inventing robots to take care of it's aging population. Cape Breton is not.

Don't get me wrong Seniors. I love you guys. I love your hard candy and the fact that you single-handedly prop up the tapioca pudding industry. I love the fact that you wake up at 5:00am to walk around the mall for reasons beyond my comprehension. I even find your use of the word "queer" for "weird" anachronistically endearing. But let's face it, you're expensive. As much as numbers confuse me, here's a few. Cape Breton's median age is now 47, with twenty percent of it's population being older than 65. An economy cannot survive on legion bake sales alone. 

For about 80 years, the first world had a pretty good system of the current generation taking care of the older, and that's great. I would say it's the Canadian way to take care of citizens who need it the most. But people aren't having the 13 child families they used to have (I'm looking at you, Laheys) and my generation is finding it really difficult to be economically self-sustaining before 25, whereas 50 years ago, a blue-collar wage at the steel mill was a hop, skip, and jump away. And it get's worse when you take into account...

Problem 2. Youth Outmigration 

"I'm going to go make my own province, with blackjack and hookers, named Alberta."

Ok, so youth outmigration isn't nearly as cute as that, but seriously, where are all the 20-somethings in Cape Breton? The only places I ever see them is at the movie theatre and the mall. Also, I'm in a bunch of plays around here, and it's all 30-somethings in the cast, and 50-somethings in the audience, except that one little girl with a British accent, but I'm pretty sure she's a spy so I'm writing it off as an anomaly.

Apparently there isn't much to do here for a 20-somethings. Something about a lack of nightlife and decent restaurants? Oh, and jobs. Yeah, those are important. Seems to me there are two kinds of employed people around here: nurses and lucky people. I would fall into the lucky category, and since I can subsist on nothing but gas-station taquitos and fountain pop (Thanks Esso!), the lack of sushi restaurants on the island doesn't depress me to the point of leaving.

So if our young people can't find jobs, and the rest of Cape Breton needs new hips, where do we find ourselves....

Problem #3. We're Broke

Congratulations Mombo! Now fill my potholes and make it warmer!

Man, I do NOT envy local politicians around these parts. People do not like deficits, they do not like cuts, and they do not like tax hikes. But as the public purse keeps shrinking, the situation demands some sort of fiscal alchemy to keep this island afloat. Heh, afloat. I like the idea that if Cape Breton runs out of money, it will sink down into the Atlantic, like it's actually just a giant land boat or something. Ok, I'm taking this metaphor too far. Anyways.....

Economics sometimes confuses me to the point of requiring weapons-grade Ritalin and a nice long "sit-down and stare-at-wall," but in this instance it's pretty simple. There's just not enough people paying taxes, and there are a lot of expensive things that we expect from our government, which is not a wizard guild with wealth-expanding magical powers. 

So, if we're spending way more money than we're taking in with no end in sight, how do we get out of this economic death spiral?

3 Solutions (Ideas*) for Cape Breton

*We at goCapeBreton.com have downgraded Rory's "solutions" to "ideas" because, frankly, the notion that Rory could actually solve any problem beyond an undone shoelace is the most laughable part of this article.

Idea #1: A Superport

If Dexter has taught me anything, it's that this is a great place to get murdered.

How can't you love an idea with the word "super" in it? Even horrible things become, at the least, intriguing when you put "super" in front of them. Supergingivitis! Tell me you don't want to Google Supergingivitis, just for the pictures. Well nothing happens, because I just made it up.

If you were to gauge my feelings toward a super container port in Sydney, I would call it a soft positive, but like so many other politically polarizing issues, it seems to me that proponents and opponents of this idea are living in two completely different realities, and can't even agree on simple facts on the issue

Paraphrased Version of Events from What I've Heard:

Proponents of Port: It would bring a ton of much needed jobs and money into Sydney and Cape Breton, and it would be great for Cape Breton to get back to it's industrial roots. Until the invention of teleportation, there will always be money in getting stuff from one place to another place, and why shouldn't Cape Breton get a piece of that? The closest Panamax container port is New York, so the largest container ships can come to Sydney, and transfer their containers to smaller vessels on the way to Montreal, Halifax, and the rest of the smaller Northeastern ports.

Opponents of Port: This is obviously a government cash grab by private interests. Halifax's container port barely shipped 35% of it's capacity for outbound and inbound container traffic. Why would Sydney spend so much in a market that's already drying up? Shipping is currently shrinking in the Atlantic and growing in the Pacific to get goods produced in Asia to established markets in North America. Why would people ship to a city without a rail line, and without adequate transportation infrastructure to ship that amount of goods over land to where people actually want to buy them?

Also, a piece of me feels like this is a political move to appease a certain generation that loves to vote, and sees Cape Breton Island as needing one single large industry to survive. I don't blame them for that perspective. When you take into account the economic history of this place, being one of fishing, then mining, then steel, then economic recession, it certainly feels like Cape Breton needs a single large scale industry to keep it afloat, but there could be another idea worth exploring...

Idea #2: Investing in Small Businesses

Did you know Sydney is the world's leader in custom, electronic, beer enclosure technology? Neither did I!

My boss told me that his children were taught "communities need a reason to exist." I guess the teacher was talking about fish, coal, or steel, but I have to ask myself, does a community really need ONE reason to exist. That might have been true in the days when empires sent out frigates to bring home boat loads of dried fish, but these days I'm pretty sure communities can exist for hundreds of small reasons. 

And we've even had proven successes. Even though it seems few people around here know about Protocase, the makers of the fancy beer cooler above, they employ about 100 people in Sydney, and make enclosures for companies like Space X and host Mars Rover competitions, so that's super sweet. And there is Gavin Uhma, who sold some crazy tech idea that let multiple people share a single browser, opened up the Uhma Institute, and along with the Spark Awards has created this feeding frenzy of tech entrepreneurship in Cape Breton. UIT's first batch of graduates are just now being unleashed upon the world.

Look at how bright-eyed and bushy tailed they are! Don't you just want to scratch behind their ears and fund their startups!

And don't forget about your own local, content sharing platform goCapeBreton.com, that employs super nice, approachable, frequently chipper employees like me! I realize there are a bunch of economic development offices around Cape Breton supporting startups already, but I'm just saying that it's a pretty good cause, and I like doing things that cost money, like eating and sleeping under a roof. But now for the third and most novel idea on the list...

Idea #3. Refugees

Because we really should come together as an island and give that donkey a break.

Huh, what was that sinking feeling I just felt in my stomach that's telling me my tone should suddenly become more serious? Weird. Anyways, this is an idea I've heard bandied about recently, and I find it super intriguing. Sure, Cape Breton has it's fair share of problems, such as horrible winters and not the most happening nightlife, but the odds of becoming a casualty of civil strife still remain comfortably low. Really, the largest risk of death around here is still diabetes, which, while being awful, is an absolutely decadent way to go compared to wartime alternatives. 

Seriously though, Canada takes in about 260,000 immigrants a year, with 10,000 being refugees, and I have no idea where they go, but if just 500 came here a year they could help fill the gap of working-age adults in Cape Breton, as well as bring in revolutionary economic ideas, such as "keeping your business open past 5" and "Thai food." Cape Breton is already speckled with multicultural influences like Tarabish, perogies, and meat darts. I actually have no idea where that last one came from... Poland? Why not keep the good times rolling with some Syrian and Iraqi culture thrown into the mix? Who knows what fabulous prizes they hand out for winning at darts!

How would this get done? I have no idea. I'm more of an ideas guy. I tried to cook dinner once and ended up setting a sock on fire, so I leave the implementation to the professionals. And honestly, there is no golden ticket or silver bullet to all the problems that we're facing, and it's not just us facing these issues. Almost every small community around Canada is dealing with some of these challenges. It doesn't mean we can't talk about them though. 

So what do you think? This isn't a newspaper, so you can write whatever you'd like below. Just remember, no matter how much you would like to throw me in the harbor and run me over with a cruise ship, keep the comments section classy folks.

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Three problems and three solutions from someone completely unqualified to give them. (Remember Rory's article from July 2015? Seems surprisingly current!)
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James MacKinnon Follow Me
I've ranted many times that small business startups are the better approach, so I'll try to keep this short. + Fewer resources are required to get started and gauge market potential. + Risk is reduced by diversifying investments over multiple smaller entities. + Several businesses can cover a wider range of employment opportunities, instead of a narrower demographic of skill sets. + Smaller organization size allows faster adaptation and cultivated growth through partnerships with local post-secondary institutions. + Local ownership keeps more revenue in Cape Breton and more tightly aligns business operations with the interests of the community. + Startups and entrepreneurs represent a new generation not encumbered with the same political baggage and nepotism that is a concern with some of the existing big players. Farmers, crafters, entertainers, fabricators, brewers, programmers and beyond, we have the soul of creators. This is not uncharted territory, there's already a history of local employers who created success, and they have wisdom to pass on to the next group of hungry entrepreneurs. The politicians need to stop praying for a miracle and start getting serious about create a modern, sustainable economy for Cape Breton.
Richard Lorway Follow Me
I completely agree. If even 1/10th of the money had been put into funding local entrepreneurs over the last 20 years instead of being squandered attracting branch plants, we would be much farther ahead.
Joe Ward Follow Me
Let me have some of that dredge money, and I guarantee you'll see Internationally sourced revenue incoming to Cape Breton. ;)
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
"We have the soul of creators." Somebody call whoever is in charge of our Welcome sign! I think I found our new motto! I'm totally with you James, and luckily we have the seeds of a tech industry renaissance going on now, right under people's noses. I would love for children to dream of starting a new business instead of getting a cushy government job. Half the work is changing the mindset. The other half is making it work.
Peter Ross Follow Me
Rory, I really like how you manage to distill big complex issues into matters of common sense. I'm not sure I have any more smarts than you [though I would like to think that my cooking skills are a step up from yours], but I do have a thought to share. My partner and I run a small boutique hotel in Sydney called Esplanade Executive Suites [see our profile in the Accommodations section]. We mostly cater to visiting professionals who come to Cape Breton for project work. They come from all over the world. Some of them are captains of industry. Some are academic heavyweights. Whoever they are, they all bring something of value with them to Cape Breton. What I have noticed is that the thing they want most in return is to feel welcomed, to feel appreciated, and to feel safe. And I would guess that if you were to survey Cape Breton's entrepreneurship community you would find that they are looking for variations on the same things. They want a community that welcomes new ideas, that is appreciative of entrepreneurship, and that offers them some support in dealing with the risks of their new ventures. There is a price-tag of sorts for every path forward. It will cost us something to make special accommodations for newcomers and new ventures. And as you pointed out at the start of your story, Rory, it will cost us something if we do nothing and carry on as before. There once was a time, when I was younger, when I thought it made me look wise and worldly to point out every flaw in every new idea. My mother quickly grew weary my jaded worldliness and suggested this alternative: "Let's find one good reason why it can be done." I think my mother might be on to something here. When trying to accommodate newcomers, when evaluating entrepreneurial ideas, when considering support for industrial development, maybe we should start by saying to ourselves: "Let's find one good reason why it can be done."
Richard Lorway Follow Me
Great points! Please thank your Mom for her words of wisdom.
Allison MacDonald Follow Me
Really love your mother's saying, Peter!
Peter Ross Follow Me
Thank you Allison. Thank you Richard. My mother has long since departed to wherever it is that spirits go, but I am sure she would be delighted to know that she has had (and continues to have) some positive influence over my thinking and over the community at large.
Joe Ward Follow Me
I think there is a lot of positivity around about why our stuff will work, but segmented among all the different groups insistent that they are the ones to unlock it. I love hearing the purity of: "Here's an idea I'm going to try. It's good because a, b, c, and it'll work because x, y, z." When the local conferences start up by restating quotables from the Ivany report and talking about leadership, it's suddenly nap time. I think it's pretty clear that our local success stories aren't spending too much time worrying about Ivany or what they need to do to improve their leadership skills. They are just creating and moving forward. ;) I'm super bullish on UITStartups. The young guys working at phased.io, as apparent standouts, are showing quite a balanced set of skills, and I'm predicting they'll pick up a top award at the current Spark Cape Breton, round III. Reason I'm rooting for them is that if they can actually become successful and get to revenue with their startup, it'll be a case study for UIT's success, in combination with Spark. And hopefully, that can be used as leverage to ramp up both of those programs. UIT has the chance of producing good startup people, and it has the secondary result of producing people highly prepared to support other startups as team members. We need to ramp that up. When IT industry gets big hits, they can happen much faster than in the world of superport long shots.
Allison MacDonald Follow Me
Thanks for the Protocase shout-out, Rory! I'm proud to work for a company that is committed to succeeding right here in Cape Breton. Steve and Doug worked very hard to grow this business from its small roots into the world-class facility that's known all over by engineers and designers. They've based their business here because they want to be here. The more we can encourage people to start companies that can be based here, but service other parts of the country, the continent and the world (through export or through tech-based endeavours), the better. p.s. We also have our second division, 45 Drives, the home of ultra-large data storage servers (AND the aforementioned Beerinator). ;)
Mathew Georghiou Follow Me
Allison ... you may be interested to know that MediaSpark (creators of goCapeBreton.com) designed the first ever Protocase website way back in the old days :-) And I created BrandMetal.com because of Protocase.
Allison MacDonald Follow Me
I didn't know about the MediaSpark-Protocase.com connection, that is interesting! But I definitely knew about BrandMetal - you are an integral customer! :) (Besides an excellent example of how one local business can lead to another...)
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
There are many ways that "Cape Breton" can improve, but what seems to be missing is the "plan" and the organization . Now, we hear about all kinds of "groups" working on things . Then we hear about this Sydney Ports project . Then we hear we now have a regional "enterprise" municipal group working on economic development . The part that is missing here is that we have a lot of "projects" moving forward all on their own while we have all sorts of ideas just sitting there not getting any attention . The private sector and the government sector still do not seem to be working that closely together .There are opportunities that are municipal specific and others are Island wide . These opportunities and projects need to be some how all put on the table so every one can see what is being researched, what is underway , where is the money money coming from or the budget and especially who is in charge of that project , be it private or public. We all understand not every private company will reveal their plans but that doesn't mean they don't want to participate in general projects , like advertising or attending trade shows .Example . who is working on trying to attract immigrants or retirees? Who has gone to what business shows to tell the world that they should invest in NS,let alone CB ?? Who is tracking the population and economical data for each municipality and publishing it ??? What happened to the tourism strategy that created the room taxes to support DCBA ? Why aren't all municipalities working on the rail project ??? Why doesn't every municipality have programs to attract IT companies for example ?. We have visitor centers for tourists but we don't have any such centers to promote our and attract our investors . Finally , we have to start to take more care of our business districts . They have to look good , even if they are vacant.
Rory Andrews My Post Follow Me
Ah, the old "Left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing" routine. I would say in this instance, it's probably three hands (as much as that plays against the anatomy metaphor). We have the municipal government and economic development, the business sector, and the various academic institutions. They have a good amount of conferences and meetings, but I'm really not sure what actually comes from it. It would be rad if there was some way to get the leaders of all three to come together and make a coherent plan. Maybe they already do? I have no idea. Also, it would be awesome if there was some platform that was open to everyone on the island, where they could share what they're working on, and start a meaningful conversation about what options we have as an island and discuss their merits. Oh, wait, that's what this is. SCORE!
Joe Ward Follow Me
When the mayor recently announced his plan to revitalize the Sydney downtown area, it included relocating the NSCC... and the President of NSCC didn't seem to know much about that plan. I don't think they are working that closely together.
Kristen MacLean Follow Me
Here's two ideas First of all: those of us who are lucky enough to be able to generate decent pay in Cape Breton need to use their income to reinvest in Cape Breton. I'm as bad as anyone else, but if people thought about using more of their income locally we would be able to sustain more small businesses. Pick a local restaurant rather than eating at a chain restaurant, purchase some of your groceries at the farmers market or even invest in your retirement locally (I'm a big pusher of New Dawn's Innovation Fund CEDIF). I read an article a while back that said upwards of 70 cents on every dollar spent in the Nova Scotian economy leaves the province. That's a massive cut that's bleeding every day. If we can stop all of that money leaving our province and allow it to be recirculated, everyone will be better off. Secondly, we need to invest in public transport (idea stolen from a CB Rant room on facebook). How did Cape Breton become a place where you need a vehicle to work (for the most part), but very few businesses can afford to pay a wage that'll allow you to actually own/maintain a vehicle without destroying your pocketbook? I dream of a day where our seniors can be transported from point A to B in a vehicle that uses turn signals.
Joe Ward Follow Me
For successful, profitable local businesses, "buy local" isn't as effective as we might expect, IMO. Additional spending and profits goes into investment funds (typically out of the local market, stock/bonds). That's tied up money. The smaller and less profitable a business is, the better impact buy local has. Because the profits are more likely to be spent back in the community rather than go into their investments (tied up money, removed from economy as thought it went to the USA - and sometimes does). For those biz owners who invest in real estate, they also end up gaining more housing inventory with their biz profits, and inflate housing costs (low quality rental > mortgage for same). However, buy local can be and perhaps has to be successful via better marketing of the products/services offered themselves. It's unrealistic to be able to align all consumers (non-uniform decision makers) with varying means and economic challenges. I.e. For as long as my income is tight, I'll be shopping at Walmart. Businesses like Flavour would be successful even if people didn't know they were locally owned, because they have proactive, creative marketing strategies. Remember their Xmas gift card deal? The new food coop is another example of what appears to be a great start to their marketing campaign - without requiring consumers to have to be patriotic about their consumption. They just have to be compelled by a great product offering.
Joe Ward Follow Me
If I could align consumers, I would have them: > Quit smoking > Never buy a new car > Never buy anything bigger than a 4 cylinder engine > Only buy houses that have basement apartments (income properties) If I could align the CBRM, I would have them: > Give a 5-10 year no-tax incentive on new home builds (primary dwelling only) > Provide guaranteed mortgage default backing to a bank to finance people w/ unestablished credit who can prove they paid rent for the last 5 years Why these odd ball economics? We have too many people blowing money on cars, smokes, and unnecessary gas that leave the economy and reduce their discretionary income. We buy too much house and therefore send mortgage interest out of the economy. We don't have good incentives to build in this region with outmigration and high unemployment, and inflated new home building costs that make a building decision risky. We have people with low income that run into FICO hits that force them to pay higher rent than they would if they had a mortgage, and yet can't qualify for a mortgage. This reduces their discretionary income, but sends their income to local investors who tie up that money (stocks/bonds/out of market investments).
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
Kristen: most people only shop to get the cheapest price and don't care who they buy from or where the money goes . They see local folks working at the Walmart and think they are helping the economy, but then they don't understand why there are so many vacant stores on Charlotte Street . It's about connecting the dots . We have two choices to attract people . We either get them here as tourists or get them to move here ,if not full time, than as "summer people" or they can be "island summer birds" ,( opposite to snowbirds) , but not one municipality is even trying to get people to move here . They squashed the "retirement cape breton " concept just as it was gaining ground . The population trends are telling us that we need to get more people here and in the next 10 years.
Joe Ward Follow Me
Rational economic decisions in a market with such high unemployment and poverty means that people will make their money stretch by buying the most affordable options. However, you're right. To grow the economy, we need to grow the # of economic participants. But therein lies the issue. What competitive advantages do people have for living here? How can we possibly market as a retirement community - if when they move here they can't get a doctor, a specialist, or have to check to see if their local hospital has closed down for the day due to too many calling in sick? Or heaven forbid having the risk of cdiff infection that will end their lives if they have to go into care at our region's most modern hospital. People are leaving because they are able to see a better argument for living elsewhere. And if local leadership wants to find solutions to slow or reverse that trend, they had better start thinking in terms of providing some form of incentivization or argument that would shift the balance in favor of staying here, or coming here. Dredging the harbour or sending historian/consultants with nebulous claims of $1.2 million investments - who clam up on Information Morning about it - isn't helping seniors get adequate medical care, or providing any incentivation for people to stay living in a shrinking economy. Accessing Federal or provincial money itself is a resource, not a solution. It has to be applied in strategic ways.
Kristen MacLean Follow Me
I made a point to say "Those of us capable of generating decent pay" because I don't think its fair to ask someone who's worrying about how they're going to feed their kids and pay the electrical bill to shop at a farmer's market. I hate the idea of people moving back to Cape Breton for retirement. Our provincial taxation is already out of control, and we can't really afford more seniors moving here. Our healthcare funding takes up approximately 4billion of our 11billion provincial budget. I think what we really need is a honest discussion about our province's place in the country. If we're going to continue educating Nova Scotians who move to other provinces, educating Canadians not born in NS through our post secondary schools, and become a retirement village, we need to have a serious discussion about equalization funding or making healthcare and education federally funded. Its unfair to expect underpaid Nova scotians to saddle the bills for a lot of this.
Gary LeDrew Follow Me
Generally here people do not seem to like immigrants which has to change we need all the people we can get and mostly they bring money and new ideas. to me the biggest selling feature of Cape Breton is the it is the safest place in the world. As climate change takes hold we are far away from tornadoes We rarely even get thunderstorms. hurricanes pass us by, no avalanches floods or earthquakes or any other disasters and a low crime rate. We really should push it. what worries me most is the old boy network. since I moved back 11 years ago and every deal and project seems to have a lack of transparency and a back room smell to it.this has to change. We should buy up all our tax land sales and give property to people who want to move here.
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
Bingo !!!
Joe Ward Follow Me
Transparency. Absolutely. We are failing in this regard. Re: Buying up tax land sales and offering it as an incentive for moving here I don't know the structure of this proposal, but we definitely need to start thinking about strategic ways to bring people here. That is the kind of out of the box thinking I commend and we need more of! When is the last time we explored any type of economic policy change to actually bring people here? One of my recent brainstorms is that we should incentivize moving here/staying here by allowing new home builds to be tax free 5-10 years. That might help slow the exit of our Western workers. Without an analysis, I also have a favorite idea. A loose adaptation on the idea of "broken window theory". I think we need to have all of our city roads perfect and pothole free as though we were driving in Florida. What sends people a constant signal of decline and regression other than the constant bumps and wretched road surfaces we have here? Every meter of road way reminds us we are failing - and we are (MoneySense ranking, 2015). Let's make it look like we're a place that has a sense of pride. If you personified our roads... then instead of snappy looking business attire that attract, they'd be wearing dirty, torn vagrant rags that repel. #PaveTheWayToProsperity
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
There are many examples in Canada and the USA where municipal property tax "deals" and provincial/state tax deals were used to cause renovations, to cause new building, to get businesses to move . Victoria.BC basically renovated and restored about 16 blocks of their downtown with a heritage property tax scheme. NY State has a big tax thing for a company that locates there and that has brought them many jobs and new tax revenues . Property tax discounts really don't cost you any money , they just defer the payment of any tax increases you will get from future increased assessed values . Municipalities can waive development fees. The key is to figure out who you are aiming for and to make sure they know about your incentives .Imagine attracting 50 retirees a year for 10 years; it's only 500 -1000 people but it's maybe $3 million of new spending money to the Island .
Joe Ward Follow Me
Absolutely. We can't tax or get an economic contribution from anyone that *isn't here* - and we're losing people. Rate: 500 school kids per year disappear and their parents with them... of course. Most direct measure of out migration and loss to tax base. We have the ability to stop people from deciding to leave, to create deeper roots here for new homeowners, and to make a compelling biz case for living here. And we're not doing *any* of it.
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
I am not a techie but is there some way "we " can start a list of goals,objectives and projects,in an order of priority too , on this site such that we can toss them around and come up with a "consensus" list by say September 1 . We then send it to all the CB Island Municipalities. Each item has to have a "leader"or 'spokespersons " name, and if at all possible a few facts and figures to back it up . The proposals have to be no longer than 1 page . If we send the politicians some "solutions" maybe we can wake them up .
Jacquelyn Scott Follow Me
I always love it when someone so elegantly expresses my own opinions -- as you just did with this piece, Rory. Without more people of working age, ultimately nothing will happen. And other Canadians do not seem inclined to move here for more than three months of the year.... All of us who believe these things need to be much more publicly vocal about them, because otherwise the more negative voices (who offer no real solutions) hog the airtime.....
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
Jacquelyn: Over on this west side of the Island , there hasn't been much that has meant year around employment for the 20-60 year old brackets other than the pulp mill .The Cabot Links has created more seasonal employment but not sure how many are residents as compared to summer students . Retirees and "summer people" have been a core component of the economic activity as they are often the ones who will build new or take on major renovations . "We" have to get more proactive as the "island". Every municipality tying to do their thing and /or trying to beat out another municipality is not good .
Joe Ward Follow Me
Negative voices have a correlation with regressive situations. They are a needed factor. Without issue acknowledgement, there can be no solution. Undetected cancer is still killing people. There are root causes of criticism. Though I wish it was in a more constructive tone, at a very minimum, from an objective standpoint we can take it all as a measure of discord. We have to be more about the engine than the paint job. What good is a great looking (positive) image when the most important components inside aren't working? Reality: Outmigration due to poor socioeconomic conditions. Solution (try anything reasonable): Option #1: Offer 10-year no housing tax to anyone: i. Moving from outside of Nova Scotia, ii. Having been living outside of the province for more than 5 years, iii. Will reside in Cape Breton full time, Iv. Will be their primary residence v. Is building a new home Option #2: Offer 10-year no housing tax to qualified Western workers i. Reside in Cape Breton, non-home owner ii. Show work history of at least 90 weeks of work over past 3 years in Western provinces, oil industry iii. Primary residence iv. Is building a new home Other qualifying scenarios? Give people an incentive to choose living here. People who leave contribute *zero* to the tax base, and have the potential to significantly decrease it if housing prices fall as a result of increasing supply and decreasing demand Home ownership can keep them here, and root people here that are new arrivals. Eventually they will pay housing tax. But the entire time we have people here, they are economic contributors to the region. What is the likely cost of this program? Listening to shortsighted people say that it's unfair that they pay taxes and these people don't. Which will be valid only when the approvals go to people connected to the CBRM executive level employees and their family members, or those closely connected to our legal or business community.
Christian Murphy Follow Me
It's great that we are revisiting this topic. Seems everyone has come to the same conclusion, investment. Generalizing the term of course. Investing in local entrepreneurs, investing in local shops, investing because we have a vested interest. I always say, ideas are cheap.....execution of ideas takes time and money. Everyone is on board right up until someone needs to write a cheque. From what I read, all the participants are correct, how many of you are willing to write a cheque, get invested?
Richard Lorway Follow Me
I thought it made sense to revisit since I hear a lot of the above themes being discussed in the current federal election campaign. Youth out-migration, refugees, big projects, entrepreneurship, etc. But as usual, more heat than light. Further to Peter's comment (and yours), I have invested in New Dawn's CEDIF program on multiple occasions. So, local investment? Yep, I'm in.
Christian Murphy Follow Me
I was taking a more pragmatic approach to the term invest, from a perspective of buy local to invest local. It's great that you have taken the on New Dawn as part of your portfolio Richard. My Petro Points and PC Points cards make up the bulk of mine! 8-)
Peter Sheehan Follow Me
The NS CEDIF program is a very successful way to raise and pool money . It has worked well for wind farms and even Coop stores and think the New Dawn people. If the IT people could some how pool their companies into a sort of conglomerate so several companies are operating as one for investment purposes , they would have a good way to all benefit . So 10 start ups and a few others with proven records somehow amalgamate to form a partnership , then that partnership would make the call for investors .
Joe Ward Follow Me
Though the collaboration sounds great in principle, I'd be a bit more pessimistic about that one. It would be very challenging (maybe even paralyzing) for small scale entrepreneurs, each one wanting to be the next Elon Musk and sit at the biggest desk, to coordinate themselves in such a way. It's often hard for just the co-founders of small companies to keep from descending into another sequel of Hunger Games right inside the office. ;) However, in some regard, we already see something similar happening at UIT Startup. Though the students may pursue individual concepts, the association with UIT itself (so closely integrated with the tech ecosystem - a small group of very close knit folks) gives them a leg up on the easy (said with positive connotation) funding: Spark Cape Breton via Innovacorp, and potentially the I3 contest as well (TBD). ;) Being a part of that core network is almost as leverage-able (if not more leverage-able) than the business concept itself. As the scale of the program grows, we'll see that duality of advantage. Connection to the network, plus greater competition among new biz/startup concepts all chasing the same seed capital.
Mathew Georghiou Follow Me
It's not practical to pool companies together in any meaningful way, but the closest thing possible is to invest in the New Dawn CEDIF which then invests in multiple local companies.
Joe Ward Follow Me
The New Dawn CEDIF also invests at a higher level doesn't it? 500k up range? Only noting as it's a tier above the space where the Spark CB and UIT crowd is hovering right now.
Mathew Georghiou Follow Me
Depends on the investment, but yes in the hundreds of thousands. But, it is LOANS not EQUITY. It's great that New Dawn has stepped up where others have not, but we do need strong EQUITY options locally as well.
Joe Ward Follow Me
Ah, very important distinction. For loans, they definitely have to vet the opportunity for returns potential. Seed capital can (in many cases) be considered vapour capital. Very risky money that vanishes fast. VC/pro investors need the big hits to pay for all the other bad bets. ;)
caleb gibbons Follow Me
Solution #4 Tax Free Zone within CBRM Take a page out of Ireland playbook and create a tax free zone in Cape Breton (a mini ILFC if you will). Canada, believe it or not, is a tax haven by virtue of the fact that there is no estate tax. Many hedge funds have waived the white flag with respect to global regulations and are giving back 3rd party funds, converting instead to "family office" entities. Even a North American sweep would find many takers, especially from places like Puerto Rico. Issue: Schools. The people that run these family offices are i) working age and ii) smart. Viable schooling options must be available otherwise the tax incentives are moot and the plan will not work. Solution #99 Nuclear Waste Management Australia recently vetted and turned down a multi-billion dollar (approx. C$5,000,000,000) proposal to house an international nuclear waste site onshore. Cape Breton already has the legacy tar sands site to contend with, something that has likely been under budgeted. A world class treatment and storage facility might be something worth considering. Issue: Likely a non starter due to NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome.
Joe Ward Follow Me
Nuclear waste management requires a level of significant competency. I'm not sure that would be our best investment given say... potholes and snow removal (stuff we are supposed to be know how to take care of) - or consistency with our brand based around tourism. I don't think a little reluctance there represents a NIMBY argument. ;) But manipulation of tax policy would be a potentially very powerful option. Various formats.
caleb gibbons Follow Me
Note, it was listed as option #99, the "nuclear" option. There has to be some catalyst for change. All the US states have unemployment < 7% at present. Cape Breton has rates akin to southern Europe without the weather, or siestas.
Joe Ward Follow Me
We're more comparable to cities or regions than full states. There are some that are very high. A little googling pointed out Yuma, Arizona at 18%. But I absolutely agree with you. We lack a strong value proposition for people coming here or even staying here. Our innovation, creativity, and econdev levels are very low performing, IMO. And we're in a state of decline that will make it extremely challenging to turn around. :( I would love to see something bold established as well.
ray steiger Follow Me
The Sydney Port idea has huge potential environmental impact to Cape Breton. If they reviewed any of the ports in the states there are some huge impacts to the water systems. The potential of Asian Carp, Zebra muscles etc.. that would be devastating to Cape Breton sports fishing, Trout, Salmon. I get the idea of trying to stimulate some industry for economic benefits but I can't see why they would use Sydney over Halifax for a port. The number of semi trucks on the highways with dramatically increase (no rail from Sydney to Halifax) and would be extra costs to ship the goods. The math just doesn't add up. Where is the data that supports a super port for Sydney?
Dan Waits Follow Me
Would it be a maddeningly oversimplification to suggest the possibilities of CBI becoming the Florida of Canada for Senior adults? CBI is drop dead beautiful, no matter the season. It has some of the milder Canadian climate. It's a society & culture seniors would find congenial? Florida adjusted their services to accommodate seniors. They would need doctors, hospitals, assisted living facilities, plus groceries, gasoline, car repairs, & any of a gajillion other thjngs. And all that adds up to seniors spending money, needing services, & generating jobs. They'd be buying or renting housing, bringing an influx into a lot of things. I wouldn't suggest making seniors the single industry for CBI, but seniors could create create a HUGE chunk of economic activity with their part time or full time residency. Florida has flourish with them, once they accepted the challenges. It's just a thought...
P Sheehan Follow Me
Dan, years ago (1995-ish ) there was a "program" called Retirement Cape Breton " funded by ECBC and ACOA. It was an excellent promoter for CB . There are several success stories in Canada around retirement "villages". Elliott Lake is one , and think also is the Miramachi. The CB version was just getting national attention when it seemed to just stop. For me , it was just too Sydney/CBRM focused and for whatever reason the municipalities were not coming to the table ( and still aren't).. We have economic development people in every municipality but what are they developing? A pensioned retiree couple is worth a minimum $75-100,000 in added income EVERY YEAR to the economy . Attract 10 a year for 10 years and the math is amazing. The NS government has no desire to save rural Nova Scotia, let alone anything on CB . .
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