Development Rumours

[xanaxanax]

Originally Posted by ScotianEnergy

How long does the permit process generally take for a development like this? I read that they are planning to start construction this summer. Surely it must take longer than that for it to get approved? Are public hearings expected? Thanks. Long time lurker first time poster.

I'm not sure, apparently some backdoor closed camera talks have been going on for a unknown amount of time. I do see a fair amount of job posting in Halifax for both DDI and Dongdu International for Managing plan approval and construction schedule, Project Managers so they might be gearing up for some major developments in the city, I'm hoping their information technology development centre isn't going to be just a call tech place, everything they plan to do is very ambiguous and vague. Apparently they plan to pump around a billion into a film production company weather that is just the weird film cruise ships idea that I don't see how could stay docked in Halfiax for long periods of time it takes to film anything or if they actually intend to build some large studios warehouse somewhere is unknown to anyone right now.

[xanaxanax]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

Calm down, man. I think this is fantastic. This is just the sort of investment and interest that Nova Scotia needs.

We're NEVER going to increase immigration to sustain our population if no one knows about us, and what we have to offer. This sort of investment can bring tourists and later migration interest.

Naturally, a real estate firm from China is going to do things differently, and have some different ideas. Let's keep an open mind.

No I think its great too, its just really boonkers, have you even watched the video? it all sounds amazing until you watch this really bonkers video. Their main focus revolves around film industry. The film cruise ships don't seem like they would be a long term commitment and big heavy weights in film don't spend a lot of time bouncing around on cruise ships when they have tight time table's to keep.

[OldDartmouthMark]

The video gives the air of sensationalism to attract investors who have a lot of money but little knowledge of the area, including its weather during the 8-month winter season Large scale theme parks as such tend to survive better in southern areas that have warm weather yearround, but who's to say?

Don't like to sound pessimistic, but I will be surprised if this gets off the ground. Time will tell.

[xanaxanax]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

The video gives the air of sensationalism to attract investors who have a lot of money but little knowledge of the area, including its weather during the 8-month winter season Large scale theme parks as such tend to survive better in southern areas that have warm weather yearround, but who's to say?

Don't like to sound pessimistic, but I will be surprised if this gets off the ground. Time will tell.

Right and once they find out the Rockey Mountains are not in Guysborough County and that they've been bamboozled what happens then.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by xanaxanax

Reporting that its a $3-billion investment here in the city and province http://business.financialpost.com/2014/05/27/nova-scotia-dongdu-international/

If you want to see why Halifax has trouble attracting and retaining immigrants and new Canadians, go to above noted link on this Chinese investment (http://business.financialpost.com/2014/05/27/nova-scotia-dongdu-international/) and read the comments.

Lots of xenophobic comments, many suspicious and ignorant about investment from Asians and foreigners more generally.

We love slapping ourselves on the backs for our "hospitality"; but the truth is darker and more unsettling. Many Nova Scotians and Haligonians are just plain bigoted towards migrants and new Canadians.

And it needs to be changed.

Politicians, community leaders, etc, all need to denounce these sorts of attitudes constantly. These sorts of attitudes have to become socially unacceptable with serious social stigma attached, like other forms of overt racism.

[xanaxanax]

I recognize some of those people of being negative of everything

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by xanaxanax

I recognize some of those people of being negative of everything

Yep.

[someone123]

What I find strange is how people rush to shoot projects like this down. It's obvious that this plan is vague and is not guaranteed to happen. Why not wait and see, or try to provide positive input into the plan instead of shooting it down? Does the very idea of something like this upset people, or do they just want to be able to say "I told you so"?

All that aside, it's important not to assign too much weight to the comments of a few cranky Financial Post readers.

NS has a pretty good mix of advantages for tourism. It's not very developed for how accessible and scenic it is. No, it does not have a tropical climate, but if you are looking to visit a country like Canada (instead of a place like, say, Thailand) then that is probably not what you're looking for in the first place. Personally, I think NS actually has a way better summer climate than most places. More generally, the things that a Chinese tourist finds exotic or valuable are not necessarily the same things that people living in NS are consciously aware of.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by someone123

What I find strange is how people rush to shoot projects like this down. It's obvious that this plan is vague and is not guaranteed to happen. Why not wait and see, or try to provide positive input into the plan instead of shooting it down? Does the very idea of something like this upset people, or do they just want to be able to say "I told you so"?

All that aside, it's important not to assign too much weight to the comments of a few cranky Financial Post readers.

NS has a pretty good mix of advantages for tourism. It's not very developed for how accessible and scenic it is.

No, it does not have a tropical climate, but if you are looking to visit a country like Canada (instead of a place like, say, Thailand) then that is probably not what you're looking for in the first place. Personally, I think NS actually has a way better summer climate than most places.

You're completely right about the negativity. The immediate reaction is always "OMG!!! I'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE. LIKE IT'LL DO ANYTHING. JUST MORE CORPORATE LIES. WE DON'T NEED <enter appropriate foreign nationality for story here> MONEY. WE'RE SCRAPING BY. SAVE THE MARITIME WAY OF LIFE! "

As for the comments, yes, I don't give them too much weight. But still, it's a window into some of the public opinion out there.

I just posted a comment. I can bet you, the negative/xenophobic comments to the story will get 20 upvotes for every upvote mine comments gets (if my comment even gets any).

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

You're completely right about the negativity. The immediate reaction is always "OMG!!! I'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE. LIKE IT'LL DO ANYTHING. JUST MORE CORPORATE LIES. WE DON'T NEED <enter appropriate foreign nationality for story here> MONEY. WE'RE SCRAPING BY. SAVE THE MARITIME WAY OF LIFE! "

As for the comments, yes, I don't give them too much weight. But still, it's a window into some of the public opinion out there.

I just posted a comment. I can bet you, the negative/xenophobic comments to the story will get 20 upvotes for every upvote mine comments gets (if my comment even gets any).

I think that such negative opinions about foreigners are predominantly a sign of ignorance. As more people attend university and college with foreign students, and more Nova Scotians travel to foreign countries then such views tend to change.

It is too bad that there isn't already more diversity in Nova Scotia. It seems that there is a fairly strong Lebanese community that has had a positive impact on the Halifax-area economy. I hope that Chinese immigration will have the same positive impact on the economy.

Regarding the comment regarding 8 months of winter in Nova Scotia that I saw posted on the Financial Post story, the weather in Nova Scotia isn't that much different than the Vancouver weather and it didn't seem to deter Chinese immigration. Also, I think it is a misconception that people from hot climates enjoy having hot weather all year round.

It should be pointed out that some areas of northern China do get snow during the winter. Before living in Japan for a couple years (30 years ago) I had the misconception that Japan was hot all year round; in reality, central and northern regions of Japan get snow during the winter (however, I am getting off the topic of Chinese investment)

[xanaxanax]

Well if you watch the Tourism introduction video by DDI group for the resort it is very upfront about it being 4 season and shows a lot of winter activities, problem I see with it is that it is compounded by a lot of Corporate Lies showing landscapes that are not part of the province. I'm hugely sceptical of cruise ship thing for a few reasons it alludes to all technical equipment being on site for film crews, it doesn't sound like something that would employ local people or make use of local technical equipment, Halifax has a company that has the most cutting edge motion capture camera in the world right now for filming, it also has a lot of local technical talent with sound / lighting ect that have been big player on the world stage in film. We have the 3rd largest film industry in the country in Halifax and it would be cool if this company could boost that but a ship from a foreign nation with all the bells and whistles you would ever need it sounds specious that they'll be any benefit from it. I think it should have been in the MOU contract if they want to do this cool knock yourself out but have it a locally based operation not a mobile pick up and go when you please, if they want to bring people in with cruise ship, throw parties, have a festival, do your presentation and fact finding origination cool whatever but have your technical business onshore and employ people. Mobile Ship with its own tench crews and production equipment, sound and editing studios sounds shady, wheres the benefit to the economy other than a few permit they have to fill out. I don't know much about MOUs but it doesn't sound like they are tied very strongly to the province with it on that one particular venture.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I think that such negative opinions about foreigners are predominantly a sign of ignorance. As more people attend university and college with foreign students, and more Nova Scotians travel to foreign countries then such views tend to change.

It is too bad that there isn't already more diversity in Nova Scotia. It seems that there is a fairly strong Lebanese community that has had a positive impact on the Halifax-area economy. I hope that Chinese immigration will have the same positive impact on the economy.

Regarding the comment regarding 8 months of winter in Nova Scotia that I saw posted on the Financial Post story, the weather in Nova Scotia isn't that much different than the Vancouver weather and it didn't seem to deter Chinese immigration. Also, I think it is a misconception that people from hot climates enjoy having hot weather all year round.

It should be pointed out that some areas of northern China do get snow during the winter. Before living in Japan for a couple years (30 years ago) I had the misconception that Japan was hot all year round; in reality, central and northern regions of Japan get snow during the winter (however, I am getting off the topic of Chinese investment)

Agreed about the ignorance. In fact, we have a *large* proportion of our population that is postsec educated; however, they're the segment most likely to leave (the young). The ignorant morons illustrated in comments on that story, unfortunately, seem to stay.

[Phalanx]

After skimming the comments, it seems to be a handful of locals along with a bunch of people from Vancouver and Toronto throwing around the 'don't let it happen to you, too' argument. Odd.

Anyway, I'm quite content to see new money (and better yet, people) come into the province.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

If you want to see why Halifax has trouble attracting and retaining immigrants and new Canadians, go to above noted link on this Chinese investment (http://business.financialpost.com/2014/05/27/nova-scotia-dongdu-international/) and read the comments.

Lots of xenophobic comments, many suspicious and ignorant about investment from Asians and foreigners more generally.

We love slapping ourselves on the backs for our "hospitality"; but the truth is darker and more unsettling. Many Nova Scotians and Haligonians are just plain bigoted towards migrants and new Canadians.

At least newspaper comments tend to be skewed toward the most curmudgeonly, troll-y, irrationally angry people--I don't think it's a window into the general public psyche. (I hope).

It actually looked as if more local commenters were pro-Chinese investment--I counted four B.C.ers and one Torontonian warning the east about being "overwhelmed," etc.

But again, that's the internet crank brigade. I think there will probably be real concerns if this gets bigger. I'm not a fan of the Chinese ersatz village thing, like this "Thames Town", but we should certainly learn more before dog-piling all over it. Especially because China remains one of the world's largest source countries for out-migration, and putting Nova Scotia on their radar will certainly be good for us.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by xanaxanax

No I think its great too, its just really boonkers, have you even watched the video? it all sounds amazing until you watch this really bonkers video. Their main focus revolves around film industry. The film cruise ships don't seem like they would be a long term commitment and big heavy weights in film don't spend a lot of time bouncing around on cruise ships when they have tight time table's to keep.

They have two videos... the cutesy one with "Monocle" Magazine-style illustrations that depicts building landmarks from around the world in Nova Scotia so that visitors could come to NS to feel like they've actually traveled the entire world. The other one is full of majestic music and suggests that by visiting Indian Harbour Lakes, you can experience camping etc. in the Rockies.

Video, apparantly from the memorandum of understanding signing "ceremony"
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scoti...-resort-at-indian-harbour-lake-1.2656057


Video on DDI's website, titled "Pioneer of Residence for Young Generation: Innovation-Integrity-Responsibility-Team Spirit"
http://en.ddigroup.com.cn/

The plans sounded ambitious and exciting - though comments from NSBI to the effect that DDI is high on ambition and low on details make it sound like they aren't bought in yet - but the videos made me feel like maybe this is a joke? Some of it is likely due to cultural differences - I'm not the same mindset and cultural context as those targeted by the videos (I assume they target Chinese investors) - some of it because I just feel that it's a bit of a stretch to fabricate a niche market. Of course, that can be done - I'd argue that Apple created its own market for all the iDevices - but I think in cases where that's worked, there was obvious care and attention to detail at almost every step, and this just seems.... sloppy. Inspired, but sloppy.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Regarding the comment regarding 8 months of winter in Nova Scotia that I saw posted on the Financial Post story, the weather in Nova Scotia isn't that much different than the Vancouver weather and it didn't seem to deter Chinese immigration. Also, I think it is a misconception that people from hot climates enjoy having hot weather all year round.

The 8 months of winter comment in this thread was mine, and perhaps a little exaggerated after the particularly hard winter endured by much of North America this year. Enough with the frost already, I have a garden to put in!

I'm surprised that our weather is so similar to Vancouver as I was under the impression that they received mostly rain in the winter months and rarely had a snowfall over 10 cm. Also I was under the impression that they start to experience springlike conditions in March as opposed to May. That said, I've never lived in Vancouver so I can't comment firsthand. Do they have the equivalent of nor'easters there such as the 30+ cm of snow combined with 90+ km/h winds that we had this March? I'm sure posters like someone123 can help us out in this regard.

Regarding Japan, yes the Hokkaido and other mountainous northern areas have lots of snow, but typically the more vastly populated areas of the country have maximum 1 or 2 snowstorms each winter of about 5 - 10cm accumulation which would typically slow the cities down to a crawl. Japanese residents that I've known tend to find our summers beautiful and our winters way too cold. But that's just my experience.

I welcome Chinese investment money, and I hope they succeed. The video seemed a little flossy to me, but maybe I tend to be too technical and detail oriented. If I see an idea that looks a little farfetched, I tend to want to know what research has been down and how they plan to make it happen before I have confidence in it.

So, does the Chinese film industry typically use cruise ships from which to base their filming? To me it seems that it would be difficult to recoup the costs of running, staffing and maintaining such a large ship just for filming. In North America film crews that are shooting on location tend to travel more lightly with a couple of trucks for their equipment, giving them the ability to set up, shoot, tear down and travel to the next site quite quickly and inexpensively.

Regarding tourist areas and theme parks, I have yet to see one in the Maritimes that thrives during the winter season, but maybe this will change the trend. Perhaps they can sell our winter conditions as a romantic idea for those who don't experience it in their homeland. Provide the right experience and service, create a nice atmosphere (provide excellent support during the nastier weather conditions) and it could work.

As usual, I think there is way too much weight being put on the internet peanut gallery. For the past couple of years, I have decided to stop my internet newspaper reading at the end of the article and form my own opinions. The anonymous comments below are not worth my time to read them.

Again, only my

[xanaxanax]

These technology development centres seems like a pretty big thing to look into as well, since when does a real estate company have any experience in the technology development world, are they just going to build the office space and then partner with technology companies? because I can't imagine any real estate company in the world jumping into the competitive technology market. A lot of it sounds so great but then you take a step back and ask does this company have the knowledge base to do any of this and it doesn't seem realistic that they would.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

The 8 months of winter comment in this thread was mine, and perhaps a little exaggerated after the particularly hard winter endured by much of North America this year. Enough with the frost already, I have a garden to put in!

I'm surprised that our weather is so similar to Vancouver as I was under the impression that they received mostly rain in the winter months and rarely had a snowfall over 10 cm. Also I was under the impression that they start to experience springlike conditions in March as opposed to May. That said, I've never lived in Vancouver so I can't comment firsthand. Do they have the equivalent of nor'easters there such as the 30+ cm of snow combined with 90+ km/h winds that we had this March? I'm sure posters like someone123 can help us out in this regard.

Yes this was a bad winter that we just got through. I have lived in the GTA for much of the past 30 years but the weather here seems very similar to the Halifax weather (without the tropical storms and hurricanes).

I have been to Vancouver a few times and it is a beautiful city with warmer winter weather than Halifax (but not by a lot). I have spoken to an ex-Nova Scotian who lived in Vancouver and he felt that the skies were greyer in Vancouver than Halifax. An interesting fact about Halifax is that it is farther south than Portland, Oregon. Yarmouth is further south than Eugene, Oregon (which is midway between the northern Oregon state border and southern Oregon border - based on Google maps, I haven't actually been there). Maybe this results in brighter skies in Nova Scotia than Vancouver? (since NS is significantly further south)

[someone123]

I'd say that Vancouver is definitely the milder of the two, particularly when it comes to storms (there are almost none here), and particularly in the late winter/spring (Feb-Apr), but that the overall difference is smaller than people normally think. For example, the normal high in Halifax in December is about 3 degrees and in Vancouver it is 6. From now until November the temperature in both cities is basically the same.

One big advantage Halifax climate-wise is that it's significantly sunnier during the winter. We get very few sunny days from about November-March and the days are shorter. This year was pretty good but some years feel like weeks or months of perpetual gloom during the winter.

[ILoveHalifax]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Yes this was a bad winter that we just got through. I have lived in the GTA for much of the past 30 years but the weather here seems very similar to the Halifax weather (without the tropical storms and hurricanes).

I have been to Vancouver a few times and it is a beautiful city with warmer winter weather than Halifax (but not by a lot). I have spoken to an ex-Nova Scotian who lived in Vancouver and he felt that the skies were greyer in Vancouver than Halifax. An interesting fact about Halifax is that it is farther south than Portland, Oregon. Yarmouth is further south than Eugene, Oregon (which is midway between the northern Oregon state border and southern Oregon border - based on Google maps, I haven't actually been there). Maybe this results in brighter skies in Nova Scotia than Vancouver? (since NS is significantly further south)

I have lived in both Halifax and Toronto for many years and yes our weather can be somewhat similar.
Halifax is slightly warmer in the winter and Toronto can get more extremes than Halifax colder and also warmer while Halifax is a little more moderate.
Halifax is just a little cooler in the summer not likely to get a long stretch of really hot days, Halifax has much more liveable temperatures in the summer.
As much as people in Toronto are concerned about Halifax getting a tropical storm/hurricane they seem to forget about Toronto getting daily thunder storms all summer long. It is rare for Halifax to get a thunder storm.
Spring is definitely a week or two earlier in Toronto but fall lingers in Halifax.