[kwajo]

"Success means greater prosperity for Atlantic Canada through a more robust presence and increased participation in international commerce."

According to the study, the economic boost of the gateway could, by 2025, produce 61,100 new jobs, $2.1 billion in wages and $3.4 billion in GDP growth.

Yet most indicators, from the focus of MacKay's speech to the opinion of local regional development experts, points to Nova Scotia, and specifically Halifax, as having the most to gain in direct benefits.

"New Brunswick is very much a secondary (area). That's the message that has to get out here," said Charles Cirtwill, acting president of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, a Halifax-based think-tank, following the announcement.

"This isn't a question of does the main gateway go to the port of Saint John, because it simply will never happen," Cirtwill said of Halifax's all-but-declared status as the main peg.

New Brunswick, he predicted, will be the beneficiary mainly of indirect spin-offs, particularly as goods make their way over land - to and from the Nova Scotia capital.

The role of Saint John, the province's largest seaport, is still to be defined. But the report lists it as key to container traffic and boosting the number of cruise ships that visit the area.

Is anyone else routinely annoyed by every statement that comes out of the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies?