Economic News Affecting St. John's

[SignalHillHiker]

Could you imagine if someone would just pay Target Marketing to do an additional campaign based on attracting investment instead of tourists? I bet they'd be just as successful.

[PoscStudent]

I don't understand why the government hasn't put out some ads trying to encourage people to live here instead of just visit.

[Marty_Mcfly]

An outside view from an old professor of mine who had just moved to St. John's from Chicago. MUN's recruiting website is full of pictures of snow-covered hills and other general winter images. He said it really isn't inviting for anyone to come here, it leads to the impression that you'd be moving to the middle of the Arctic where it's cold 12 months out of the year. A few summer pictures would do wonders

[SignalHillHiker]

Exactly.

And, to be fair, we really only recently started promoting urban Newfoundland at all. When I lived in Moncton as recently as 2003, people often simply would not believe there was more to St. John's than the Battery unless I showed them pictures - and still they often couldn't accept that it was a bigger city than Moncton. They were often floored.

Our most recent Target campaigns have offered a brief glimpse at urban Newfoundland. The "Our True Colours" ad is the best for this yet:

• Video Link

And Republic of Doyle, of course, is leaving an impression of urban Newfoundland with its viewers.

But we need to do better - much better. Like PoscStudent said - we need a campaign that aims to convince people to move to St. John's.

[SparkDT]

I agree completely.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

St. John's really hasn't gone out there and introduced itself to the rest of the country as anything more than a tourist city. That's what needs to be done! Of course people are going to think you're bat-shit insane to move here, all they ever see about St. John's are those flashy tourism ads where it make the city look like a quaint village of a few thousand closely-knit people. Sure it has it's audience, but it shouldn't be the only thing we're advertising. Let the country know we have a wealth of engineers, industry jobs, medical professionals, etc. Maybe the country will begin to view us as a real city, and not just a nice place to visit

I think there is a stigma that people moving to the island won't be accepted. It really isn't that ridiculous to think. I've heard that view from people who have moved to the city from other places; they don't feel like the others really accept them. I think one thing that could really help this is if we stop calling people who move to the island as "come-from-away's". I can see how using that term about someone could eventually become degrading, annoying, and make it seem like the locals are shunning them away. I've always hated that term, I've never used it, I wish it would go away. I'd be very unhappy if someone called me "the newfie" all the time. Yes, I'm from Newfoundland, but I'm trying to integrate myself into your province now. Much like these "cfa" 's are doing.

Someone mentioned Dubai on the previous page in the context of how fast cities can grow. The biggest industry in Dubai isn't oil right now, it's tourism. Dubai has oil and became the center of that industry in the middle east and grew tremendously, but the big spike we've been seeing for the last few years has actually been much more related to tourism than oil money. When people come to NL to visit, they are creating a job everytime they spend a dollar, whether it be on Marine Atlantic, Air Canada, White Bay Convenience or Blue on Water. It all trickles down, and in the end I think that there is a lot more growth taking place in St. John's due to tourism than people realize.

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

An outside view from an old professor of mine who had just moved to St. John's from Chicago. MUN's recruiting website is full of pictures of snow-covered hills and other general winter images. He said it really isn't inviting for anyone to come here, it leads to the impression that you'd be moving to the middle of the Arctic where it's cold 12 months out of the year. A few summer pictures would do wonders

I've never understood this either. I met many mainlanders through MUN who were quite nervous about coming to NL for the first time because they had this impression they were going to St. John's, population 20,000 and going to be grocery shopping at Uncle Joe's grocerteria. Of course they then found out it's a decent sized city and took the leap to give it a try.

Even now, as I check it out, the only shot showing the city on MUN's website is a skyline picture from Signal Hill that only shows the downtown, blurry so that you cannot see how big any of the buildings are. ANYTHING that Signal posts on here would do better at showcasing the city.

I understand the snow capped mountains and scenery for advertising Grenfell because that is what you're getting into, a region that is really about outdoor activity in the winter, and it is a small place. But St. John's has many more selling points that MUN doesn't get out there.

[christopher_chafe]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

Someone mentioned Dubai on the previous page in the context of how fast cities can grow. The biggest industry in Dubai isn't oil right now, it's tourism. Dubai has oil and became the center of that industry in the middle east and grew tremendously, but the big spike we've been seeing for the last few years has actually been much more related to tourism than oil money. When people come to NL to visit, they are creating a job everytime they spend a dollar, whether it be on Marine Atlantic, Air Canada, White Bay Convenience or Blue on Water. It all trickles down, and in the end I think that there is a lot more growth taking place in St. John's due to tourism than people realize.

That's the problem Trevor........all St. John's is seen as is a tourist city. A place that is welcoming for tourists and not business interests. You mentioned Dubai.....you are indeed correct in what you say HOWEVER they established themselves as a business city prior to establishing as a tourist city.

[christopher_chafe]

Originally Posted by Townie709

Really? I don't even see how that's possible. We only have half a million people in the province. If every single person on the island up and moved to St. John's and rural NL completely died (which I would HATE and would be devastatingly horrible) than we could be a 500k city. I can't see us growing to be half a million in the next century because we rural NL should never die and i don't think we can realistically attract that many people from out of the province to live here.

I hope see 350,000 people call St. John's home in my lifetime (I'm 18, so i have plenty of time!) and even that might be a stretch. Half a million, while awesome, seems very unrealistic to me. but i would love nothing more than to be proven wrong!!

Townie......YYT got a better chance of getting to half a mil than rural NL........if we are attracting young people to move home from larger cities, one would think that they would want to continue their lifestyle by moving to a city such as Mt. Pearl or St. John's rather than buying a home in Stephenville or Gander Bay for example.

[Marty_Mcfly]

St. John's at half a million people may be a big of a big dream 300,000 may be a more accurate estimation of a high-growth potential for the area, but I'd feel more comfortable guessing that the CMA will level off at about 250,000 people in about 25 years

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

• Video Link

ooh! I like this ad!

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

And, to be fair, we really only recently started promoting urban Newfoundland at all. When I lived in Moncton as recently as 2003, people often simply would not believe there was more to St. John's than the Battery unless I showed them pictures - and still they often couldn't accept that it was a bigger city than Moncton. They were often floored.

First off, I would like to say how much I enjoyed that video of St. John's urbanity.

Secondly, I would like to suggest that, perhaps, Monctonians are a poor choice from whom to sample in terms of the awareness Canadians have of St. John's.

Monctonians live in their own bubble, where they believe their city is booming beyond measure, where it's them versus Halifax, where they believe Canada sees Moncton as a model of economic growth. This foolishness is largely due to the narratives published in the one newspaper upon which Monctonians depend. The Times&Transcript very rarely mentions anything related to Newfoundland and Labrador; therefore, the city would lack an awareness.

In Halifax, knowledge about St. John's is more objective: You'll encounter more people who've travelled there; you'll encounter people who've studied at Memorial University, and have shared their opinions of the City of St. John's.

Haligonians generally acknowledge St. John's as Atlantic Canada's second largest city. (And in Halifax, Moncton is virtually never mentioned. HRM is typically compared to the GTA/Golden Horseshoe -- not in terms of their similarities, but referenced for amenities that Haligonians would love to have, such as numerous forms of public transit, tall skyscrapers, sports stadiums, etc...)

[Marty_Mcfly]

Until joining this forum and reading about Moncton from its users I had no idea that Moncton was growing at such a quick rate, so I guess it goes both ways. I know very little about New Brunswick as a whole

Looking at the numbers, Moncton CMA is growing faster than St. John's, but only by about 1% so the city exceeding our population isn't likely. It looks like the two cities have been trading the "who's-been-growing-faster" title back and forth for the past few years. But of course neither of our cities can compare to Halifax, but Halifax gets to play with the big boys

[RyeJay]

Nearly 70% of Moncton's population growth has been from declining communities inside New Brunswick. That well will run dry sooner rather than later. St. John's can look forward to stable, long-term growth.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

Until joining this forum and reading about Moncton from its users I had no idea that Moncton was growing at such a quick rate, so I guess it goes both ways. I know very little about New Brunswick as a whole

Looking at the numbers, Moncton CMA is growing faster than St. John's, but only by about 1% so the city exceeding our population isn't likely. It looks like the two cities have been trading the "who's-been-growing-faster" title back and forth for the past few years. But of course neither of our cities can compare to Halifax, but Halifax gets to play with the big boys

I think we deserve a bit more credit than that. when looking at the driving factors of our growth and how it obviously comes from the booming provincial economy. I think people sometimes puts halifax on a pedestal which I do not entirely think if fair when talking about St. John's. (yes it is the largest city in Atlantic Canada and has historically been the focus when looking at the east coast) but I personally look at our potential and how we are only now experiencing the beginning and we are in the process of building the infrastructure for much larger growth.

I cannot comment on Moncton because I do not know much about it. However I can see all the constant announcements of economic mega projects in NL almost on a monthly basis, and that they will fuel more and more development as they get started.

[Marty_Mcfly]

I think a second place in Newfoundland that we should consider the possibility of booming out of control is Labrador City. It's currently outgrowing itself at a quick pace, and with Muskrat falls approaching, as well as potential oil fields off the Labrador coast, Lab city has the potential to reach city status, probably boom near the same level as Paradise. All it really needs is improved transportation infrastructure and it'd be highly likely.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

I think a second place in Newfoundland that we should consider the possibility of booming out of control is Labrador City. It's currently outgrowing itself at a quick pace, and with Muskrat falls approaching, as well as potential oil fields off the Labrador coast, Lab city has the potential to reach city status, probably boom near the same level as Paradise. All it really needs is improved transportation infrastructure and it'd be highly likely.

I agree and Goose Bay as well (right now it's considered under serviced, however the Airport gives it a great advantage and it may become the gateway to the artic)

Lab city seems really neat how it is an entirely planned town (obviously with the idea of becoming a city eventually) and you can see the grid system in the roads. I believe that those two towns will become our fort Macs (Hopefully with more attention to social issues) also MUN is slowly establishing a Labrador campus in Goose Bay.

Lab City:

http://gallery.ourlabrador.ca/History-LabradorWest


photo by cabot realty
http://www.cabotrealty.ca/residential.html

Google maps:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=lab+cit...rador&t=h&z=15

[Marty_Mcfly]

Even since I was a wee young lad I thought that Labrador City desperately needed grass and trees. You can tell that it's painfully planned; everything was just clear-cut.

[Architype]

It looks like that first photo was taken in the winter, as it does not look too green. I think it looks a lot like Gander, at least the way Gander used to be.

How much growth is expected in Lab City? The town's population in the past was over 11,000 (1981), and I will be surprised, pleasantly, if it surpasses that again.

[Marty_Mcfly]

The population as of the 2011 census was 7367 and the town is at the beginning of a mini economic boom. I have a friend who is currently working/living there. She said it's crazy the amount of development and new sub-divisions popping up in response to increased mining in the area. The current housing situation can't keep up with demand, and has put rent rates through the roof. A standard two bedroom apartment is running people close to 2 grand a month in rent.

[jeddy1989]

More good news

Analysis Indicates Steady Growth in Capital

Things are looking up for the city of St. John's. A recent analysis completed by the city shows that there will be steady growth in 2013. Councillor Bruce Tilley says the indicators are that retail sales, personal income and employment are up, and that there is a strong consumer confidence in the city and province. Tilley says the oil and gas sector is playing a key role in this prosperity but retail is a big factor as well.



Tilley says the upcoming project on Kenmount Road and Danny Williams' Glencrest project are going to be huge for the area. Tilley says he hopes the growth will allow residents to stay in St. John's to work rather than travel to western Canada.



Tilley says the most important thing to him is that young people coming out of university and college have a chance to work at home.

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?...30548&latest=1