Quote:
Originally Posted by MonctonRad
In some ways, a Nova Scotia with 75% of the population living in metro Halifax would be a much poorer, less varied and less interesting place......
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In what ways?
I think you are conflating two things that are unrelated or might even be negatively correlated. Small town NS isn't doing poorly because Halifax is doing well, it's in decline because heavy industry is in decline around North America and because primary industry requires less labour than it used to. The newer industries are generally not very suited to rural areas. These are large-scale trends affecting the whole planet, not results of a conspiracy to promote Halifax at the expense of everywhere else.
I think that economic growth in Halifax has actually helped many rural areas by adding to the provincial coffers, and by directly injecting tourism dollars and providing a market for products. I doubt the NS wine industry would have gotten much of a start without the NSLC selling in Halifax for example. If Halifax had a good economy and, say, 2 million consumers instead of what it has now the opportunities for nearby towns would be enormous.
The idea that success in one part of the province or region takes away from other parts is quite misguided. At the end of the day I suspect it's based on a dependency on handouts and the idea that the economy is driven by goodies doled out by the various levels of government -- people think that whatever Halifax has was doled out there can could have been doled out in CB (or wherever) instead. The idea of innovation driving the economy doesn't enter into this line of thinking and explains why some areas are doing so poorly.
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