Economic engine is beginning to rev: MP
Published 2007-01-02
Paul Zed likes to use the analogy of a car to describe the turnaround in Saint John's economic engine.
Five years ago, the Liberal MP says, it was running pretty well in reverse.
But thanks to a non-partisan team approach to the city's problems, the Liberal MP says that car is now out of the garage and well on the road to success on many fronts that he - and other community leaders - see only gaining momentum over the next 12 months.
"My prediction for the year ahead is slow and steady wins the race," Zed says. "The car is now running at 30 miles per hour. We're not rocketing ahead, we're not moving dramatically, but I think people now see us as a community in a positive way. "
He says it's the job of government to make sure any economic and environmental development proceeds in an appropriate way by creating the right conditions for investment.
"I believe, we as politicians we have done that by addressing very, very significant issues like medical education training, cleaning up the harbour, and closing the poverty gap with new non-profit housing," Zed says.
"These are things that have a huge impact on the city and allow companies like the Irving Group to do what they do best, which is reinvest in Saint John," he adds. "We're looking to continue to build on these foundation blocks over the next 15 years into sustainability unto itself so, basically, we can maintain what we have amongst ourselves without any outside interference or help."
He's optimistic 2007 will be the year Team Saint John's lobbying efforts on behalf of harbour cleanup in Saint John will pay off.
"I think early in the fiscal new year - probably March or April - we are going to finally see the federal government join the province and the city in the important health and economic initiative that is harbour cleanup," Zed said. "So, the environmental sustainability for me is critical to Saint John's future development.
"You cannot have growth in Saint John unless the environment is respected."
After a banner year in 2006, with housing starts taking off, employment rates falling to historically low levels, and projects like CenterBeam in the uptown, Canaport LNG and Horizon Developments' box store and hotel development on Westmorland Road moving ahead, the city's development possibilities for 2007 go way beyond harbour cleanup.
They include the proposed second Irving Oil refinery for Red Head, expected to be announced early in the new year; the justice and police complex in the uptown area; more high-end housing in Millidgeville; a racino for Exhibition Park; and more development on the city's waterfront.
"Our focus right now is on the redevelopment of Water Street," says Ross Jefferson, general manager of the Saint John Waterfront Development Partnership. "We are expecting, in the spring, to be starting the construction of (an addition) to Harbour Passage there.
"We also have most of the work completed for phase two (of the Water Street redevelopment), in partnership with the Saint John Port Authority," he adds. "(It calls for) the development of their cruise terminal building, as well as some wonderful park space at Pugsley Park, the Three Sisters Park, and some great improvements at the foot of King Street. There's also some great architectural features at the bottom of Duke and Princess."
Jefferson said the partnership is also plans to finish a development plan for opening up Partridge Island and continue work on plans for extending Harbour Passage to Fallsview Park and the Reversing Falls.
"All of the partners in the group we speak to are very optimistic about 2007," he said. "I think (Saint John) has definitely turned the corner. What we want to do is continue this momentum and keep it rolling faster."
With so many major projects on the go, particularly in the energy sector, Jefferson said all the employment that will be created is definitely going to have a major impact on housing and an investment and a significant impact on commercial space, retail space and the overall economy.
For the same reason, he doesn't think the city's future hinges on any one project.
"No doubt, the (proposed second) oil refinery will be one of the major variables this year, but the city has a number of major strategies working together, waterfront being one of them," he says. "Our objective is to make the smartest, most effective decision that ultimately is there to stimulate growth, in particular growth in the tax rate."
Jefferson says studies the Waterfront Partnership has done of the city centre tax base show that after a decline of 24 per cent in the 1990s, it leveled off, and is now on the rebound.
Zed said the 2006 relocation of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s planning offices to Saint John from Mississauga, Ont., does more than just help lend credibility to the city's claims of being a regional energy hub.
"People need to appreciate the importance of that is that they're long-term, stable technical jobs in the nuclear industry that are leading Saint John into a new century as an energy producer and energy leader," he says. "They're in the planning stages of not just refurbishing Point Lepreau (set to begin April 2008), but also looking at other refurbishments in the AECL system that will need the design expertise generated in Saint John.