Quote:
Originally Posted by JHikka
We can have twenty pages of discussion on this but at the end of the day I find it entirely difficult to believe that residents in NB and PEI are going to give up their own capitals in favour of moving them to Halifax. There would have to be significant reason to do this.
|
Residents of NS would also be unlikely to want to give up their capital. NS is the largest of the three provinces and arguably has the best long-term prospects and most political clout, so it is hard to see why the terms of Maritime union would be dominated by residents of PEI and NB.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Drybrain
The last thing an under-urbanized region with a relatively tiny alpha city needs is to have that very alpha city undermined.
|
Yes, I feel like these discussions get hijacked by the anti-Halifax crowd (the whole obsession around the capital not being in Halifax isn't even terribly important or interesting) and that a lot of the anti-Halifax arguments are sloppy. For example, it's common to hear that Halifax is privileged yet also an unimportant and small city. Which one is it? What is the point of privilege if it doesn't result in power and importance?
This might be controversial but I think the most likely setup in the Maritimes in the future will be for the region to become even more dominated by the Halifax-Moncton corridor, and for that corridor to be more heavily dominated by the Halifax area, because it has some unique advantages within the region due to its size, history, and location. On factor is that it's probably an easier sell to get highly skilled workers to move to Halifax than it is to get them to move to other parts of the region (in the same way, Halifax is disadvantaged with respect to larger cities like Toronto and Vancouver).
The fact that Moncton is doing well and Saint John has been treading water is evidence that this concentration is happening.
The pattern of cities acting as "hubs" for small towns and rural areas has been in decline for decades in the Maritimes. The Maritimes are moving toward city-regions more slowly than other parts of North America but the change is still happening. I don't believe this because I am a Halifax booster, nor am I suggesting it is the best outcome. I just think it's how the wider economy is going. Every other part of Canada has seen more and more economic activity concentrated in a few metropolitan areas. The Maritimes can either embrace and encourage this or fight against the much larger economic current. Which strategy is more likely to be successful?