[someone123]

The city's outlook does seem like it has become more positive over the past few years.

One of the road blocks I see when it comes to retaining young people is that they are under-represented in government and the provincial government in particular has a very rural/suburban circa 1980 sort of outlook (which is I guess sort of progressive compared to the former 1950's mentality of propping up heavy industry). Younger people need economic development the most because they do not have savings or established careers and yet the dominant form of economic development is tied to a lifestyle they don't want.

The good thing is that Halifax already has a lot of stuff that just happens to be back in fashion now, like old North End-type neighbourhoods. The city's potential is enormous and fairly unusual. Most Canadian cities are about 90% post-war sprawl.

It is complicated but I think the province would be better served by shifting the focus more toward entrepreneurship (grow small local businesses vs. trying to attract branch offices) and affordability (tuition, housing/transportation, taxes), and they must recognize that the urban core is disproportionately important and needs unique types of investment to be successful. A one-size-fits-all strategy for all of NS will fail.

Aside from the transit/urban focus and better economic development strategies the other stuff is all secondary. It might be good for the city but it's not going to make or break it.

I have a feeling the CFL is pretty likely to happen over the next few years, just based on how the mayor and CFL commissioner have been talking about it.