Quote:
Originally Posted by ivegotaname
Would the Saint Johners from here be upset if an ad in a Irish newspaper asked for all the Irish to move to Canadian maritimes to our area of NB ?
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All six million of them?
Here's Ireland's GDP per capita (at PPP) versus New Brunswick's:
Ireland's GDP per capita goes up according to PPP, while Canada's GDP per capita actually goes down according to PPP. 
I think we might have a bit of a challenging time convincing them based on these numbers. Yet, crazily enough, there's quite a lot of Irish construction workers and tradespeople that have emigrated to or work in Western Canada, especially Vancouver. It would be interesting to see if the maritimes could attract some more of them too, because despite what the GDP per-capita figures show, many Irish are
extremely discontent with the situation in Ireland, especially regarding the home affordability and supply crisis (which is much, much worse than even the situation here Canada's most unaffordable cities) I have a friend from Ireland that recently moved from Dublin to Vancouver, and he considers Vancouver affordable and easy to find/rent a place— compared to Dublin.
Ireland is perhaps the most height averse country on earth, with one of, if not the
worst housing crises in the world. It's really something to think that Irish builders are moving to Canada in significant numbers to build homes and high rises in Canada, while back home, their planning permission committees deny proposals for high rise developments left and right. Ireland is in many ways a painfully
British country, and in some ways, even more-so than England itself, as England is actually embracing building
up to combat the housing crisis, out of necessity, while Ireland's planning permission committees continue to hold strong against such developments, despite a very dire need.
Again keep in mind, Ireland has over 5 million people in a territory barely larger than New Brunswick... while Dublin is a metropolis of 2 million.
Yet, Saint John and Moncton both have higher tallest buildings than Dublin 
... Halifax will look like a veritable Manhattan compared to Dublin within a decade, if Irish planning permission committees continue to hold strong against high rises. Hopefully not, for the sake of Dubliners.
If Irish builders find Vancouver and Toronto comparatively affordable places to live and work, and actually move to Canada. Imagine what they would think of the Maritimes and cities like Saint John, if they could come here and get jobs buildings homes in a massive push to increase supply, from building single family homes, to mid rises, to high rises... and actually be able to afford to
buy a home for themselves, which remains nothing but a dream for most young people in Dublin, Vancouver, or Toronto.
...and Speaking of Irish
builders... Prime Minister Carney is the
most Irish Prime Minister of Canada since Brian Mulroney. Carney is so Irish that he even he had citizenship, until he gave it up shortly before becoming PM. Perhaps the PM will take a little extra interest in Saint John, because of its "Irishness", but the city doesn't really play up its Irishness nearly as much as it used to. Also, I find it odd that Saint John don't have a single sister city in Ireland, despite many people still calling Saint John, "Canada's most Irish City".
You might even say Partridge Island has a superficial resemblance to the island of Ireland itself.
Partridge Island is a very significant place to both Canada
and Ireland and I think it's deserved a lot more attention than it has gotten over the years. Partridge Island is one of those places in Saint John that people will bring up about the potential for tourism, blah, blah, blah, but none of our city or provincial leaders ever actually do anything about it...
Our MP at least had the kernel of a good idea with the plan he floated to run a ferry service to and from the island, but he seemingly gave up at the first hurdle (
soil toxicity) and the plans have not been revisited since. Personally, I think it's ridiculous that soil toxicity is cited as one of the main costly reasons for why the island won't be opened up to the public, when looking back at that history, who caused the soil toxicity in the first place? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the soil toxicity issues at Partridge Island be traced back to past actions by groups like the Canadian and British Armed Forces, the Canadian Coast Guard, and various governmental actors or agencies related to the quarantine station, military installations, and the lighthouse? If that's the case... shouldn't the government of Canada be largely responsible to finance remediation efforts at Partridge Island, if they are largely responsible for the toxicity to begin with?
I really think it's high time we actually try to do something about Partridge Island... and now that Saint John has
two MP's, i hope this is a project that both Wayne Long and John Williamson could work on together, and show that Liberals and Conservatives, can in fact, work together and get things done across party line, or across riding boundary lines for that matter. The 200th anniversary of 1847, the worse year of the Great Famine, is not far away... Perhaps with Ireland's newfound prestige and wealth, the Irish government may even be willing to partially contribute to a project that opens up Partridge Island and honours not only the many famine dead buried there, but the tens of thousands more Irish that successfully emigrated to North America through Partridge Island.
While, I think Wayne Long was onto something with the ferries, in the long run, a fixed link is a far better solution than a ferry to open up the island to the public.
The pricetag on a
pedestrian causeway would still around $30-50 million, and probably a much better and cost effective long term investment than a ferry system, and would put an end to the temptation of people illegally accessing the island, which continues to result in costly rescue operations every few years or so...
However, I think a pier or boardwalk would be a much more attractive and interesting option. Obviously, a pier here in Saint John would beed to be made of cement and other long lasting materials that can withstand the tides, currents, and storms of the Bay of Fundy, but I think a pier would be a far more visually interesting and attractive addition to the Saint John waterfront, which contrary to conventional thinking, does in fact exist, outside of the Uptown Saint John core.
I've been told before by someone who knows a lot about the hydrological conditions of Saint John Harbour, that if a pier was to be built at Bayshore, it would need to be built on the
left side of the breakwater. Anyways, here's a very crude rendering of what a pier might look like at Bayshore Beach and connecting to Partridge Island:
Perhaps with Mark Carney, noted Irish Catholic and noted
builder as Prime Minister, Saint John's two MP's Wayne Long (LPC) and John Williamson (CPC) could actually successfully lobby the PM to get Partridge Island funding to build the solutions needed to be safely reopened to the public... and so that this place important to both Canadian and Irish history can be preserved and appreciated.
🍁 
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Cheers.
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