The article doesn't really say much, but I shall post it anyways. lol
With strong leadership, Halifax could become greater city
ROGER TAYLOR
Sat. Oct 24 - 4:46 AM
AT TIMES, it seems the political leadership in Halifax is attempting to first figure out how popular a position may be before finally making a decision.
It seems that way because there is an opinion, which seems to be growing in popularity, that the political leadership in Halifax is not progressive enough and is often too slow to react to important issues.
But anyone who thinks they could successfully manage Halifax based on how the city performs in an economic study or how people react in opinion surveys might have a tough time figuring out what to do.
For example, two studies came out recently that seem to give conflicting evidence of the city’s performance.
On one hand, CIBC economist Benjamin Tal describes Halifax in the bank’s economic snapshot of Canadian cities as something of "an economic tortoise," which is supposed to be a good thing.
Halifax finished fifth in the CIBC index, behind Regina, Toronto, St. John’s and Saskatoon, but ahead of 20 other Canadian metropolitan areas included in the survey.
"You will never be No. 1, but you will probably never be last," Tal, the author of the bank’s metropolitan economic activity index, told business reporter Bruce Erskine earlier this week.
The index aims to provide timely information about the Canadian economy by measuring the economic activity in the 25 major cities where the majority of Canada’s economic activity takes place. The index uses macroeconomic variables including population growth, employment growth, unemployment rates and bankruptcies to measure economic momentum in this country’s largest metropolitan areas.
Halifax didn’t excel in any of the categories, but it didn’t do poorly in any of the categories either. That is a sign that Halifax’s economy is balanced and isn’t likely to experience the boom-and-bust cycles that affect other major urban centres such as Calgary.
Regina came out in top spot in the CBIC index because Saskatchewan’s economy, based on strong resource and agriculture sectors, is booming at the moment.
While Halifax doesn’t seem to be doing badly, according to the CBIC study, a survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business ranked Halifax well down on its list of Canada’s business-friendly cities.
Halifax came out 70th in the Communities in Boom study prepared by the small business lobby group.
The study examined 12 indicators including the number of business startups, businesses per capita, self-employment intensity, employment diversity by industry, future business performance, full-time hiring expectations, overall state of business, cost of local government, government sensitivity to business and local regulation.
The study of the federation’s membership showed that only 3.8 per cent of those who operate a business in Halifax said they felt the local government understands businesses. About 43 per cent of small business owners rated the cost of local government as a major concern.
Leanne Hachey, CFIB regional vice-president, explains that Halifax businesses pay 2.5 times more in municipal taxes than residential taxpayers.
The belief is that cities at the top of the federation’s survey are expected to experience greater economic growth than those that are less business friendly.
Although people point to the large dependence on government jobs in Halifax as one reason why the city’s economy remains stable, there is an increasingly familiar opinion from among the business community and others who believe that Halifax, with all its natural attributes, could be doing more to become an even greater city.
The studies and surveys may be useful in formulating new ideas but it takes leaders to put ideas into action. Is there someone out there who knows what a good idea is and what isn’t?
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