[SignalHillHiker]

Nationalism doesn't always have to be ugly. It can just be identity and self-determination, not a weapon.

St. John's Canada's most open city, populism poll suggests

At a time in world history marked by a global trend towards slamming doors on immigration in the face of mounting economic insecurity, new polling by The Canadian Press/Ekos Politics suggests St. John's is Canada's most "open" city, where populist politics — including support for restrictions on newcomers and resistance to free trade and globalization — are least likely to thrive.

Populism is the term often used to describe the bursts of anti-elite support that catapulted outsider Donald Trump into the White House and fuelled Britain's stunning referendum results to leave the European Union.

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The city of about 109,000 people, its famous colourful clapboard buildings nestled around a busy harbour, is increasingly diverse but still overwhelmingly white. And its economic engine has sputtered since the offshore oil bonanza that built luxury homes and opened swank restaurants ended when prices crashed three years ago.

That, according to conventional wisdom, is supposed to make it fertile ground for the sort of attitudes believed to underpin the 21st-century populist forces that are in play around the world.

And yet St. John's — along with Victoria, B.C., another fairly white seaside destination — tops the ranks of Canada's most open cities, Graves said. At the other end of the spectrum, the surveys suggest, are Oshawa, Ont., and Calgary, where "closed" attitudes and tepid support for immigration are spurred by a persistent and deepening fear of a worsening economy.

"Maybe it's the ocean having kind of a more cosmopolitan influence on the outlook of people," Graves said. "A lot of people come through. It's a big port.

"We see both people in British Columbia and the Atlantic tend to be more open. It's peculiar."

James Baker grew up in Carbonear, about an hour northwest of St. John's, and now helps immigrants adjust in the capital city as part of his job with the Association for New Canadians.

Those stories about big-hearted Newfoundlanders now immortalized in the hit Broadway play "Come From Away" aren't just oversweetened stereotypes, Baker said.

"Even in hard times, they recognize the challenges and wants of others and want to make sure they don't go without. They put others before themselves."

Arrivals of Syrian refugees two years ago put that generosity on moving display, he added.

"There's just a tremendous number of folks who want to help support refugees, newcomers as they settle into our province. We had a little boy who brought his birthday money to donate. I think he was 10."

The province, like other parts of the country and Atlantic Canada in particular, is an aging population desperate to attract and retain new residents. Immigration to Newfoundland and Labrador is up 40 per cent since 2012 and the governing Liberals want to raise it another 50 per cent to 1,700 newcomers a year by 2022.

http://www.thetelegram.com/news/regi...ggests-181655/