Halifax is the Hub of Atlantic Canada

[someone123]

I don't think it's a dubious theory. The regional centres are where investment produces the greatest dividends and they are the markets that are most easily taken advantage of in their respective regions.

The other issue is that we're not currently in a situation where money is distributed evenly based on population or need. Right now funding is biased heavily towards smaller towns and rural areas. Highways out in the middle of nowhere that hardly get any traffic are being twinned and schools are being kept open to serve dwindling student populations.

Propping up declining rural areas has become a kind of obsession in Canada, but in the end it does not change the root causes of these trends. We have spent a lot of money without much to show for it.

[Smevo]

I can't speak for other highways, but as someone who travels the HWY104/HWY4 north of New Glasgow a lot, I can tell you twinning is long overdue. Even in average traffic conditions it can be a tricky highway to drive, with or without large trucks. Also, the HWY105 in Cape Breton has some of the trickiest turns in the country and carries a heavy amount of truck traffic. The plan to twin up to the Newfoundland ferry terminal in North Sydney is necessary. Also, the entire HWY125 (aka Sydney Bypass) twinning is necessary. As it stands, there are several busy stretches that are still two lane without even passing lanes on either side. In New Brunswick, HWY 7 between Fredericton and Saint John is long overdue for twinning and re-alignment (much like 104 in NS). There's not even the opposition for HWY 7 re-alignment as there is on the 104 around Antigonish. Like I said though, I can't speak for other highways, since the rest of the ones I usually drive are already twinned.

I agree with you that the Newfoundland situation is tricky. It's really a separate entity and the whole "Atlantic Canada" stamp seems more for convenience than anything else. On the other hand, the Maritimes truly do have a lot in common and are a tight geographic entity. Halifax is definitely the dominant city in the Maritimes, with St. John's being the dominant city in Newfoundland. It's not really fair to St. John's to lump it in with "Atlantic Canada" because of the fact Newfoundland really operates independently from the Maritimes.

[someone123]

Twinning is sort of a safety issue but there are so many kilometres for so few people, and in reality it's sort of questionable that they would be able to support that kind of highway on their own. At what point do you draw the line?

To some degree I think Maritimers have a warped idea of what is "isolated" and too much of a sense of entitlement. People in Canso wanted Northern benefits but most of them probably have no idea what the real isolation in other parts of the country is like. Hint: it's much more than living a 45 minute drive down from the highway and a couple hours from the city.

Nowhere in the Maritimes is that isolated as far as Canada goes. How far from Sydney can you get in Cape Breton? The most you can get from a major road in Nova Scotia is maybe a few hours' walk. Another interesting fact is that only approximately 1% of the province is "wildnerness" in the sense that it has never been settled, farmed, logged, or mined.

Again, Newfoundland and Labrador are a bit different.

[Smevo]

That's true on all counts. I think the farthest from Sydney you could get would be a tiny village called Meat Cove up a road off the northern section of the Cabot Trail. Not sure how long it takes to travel up that particular road, but it's about a 3 hour drive from the furthest part on the Cabot Trail to Sydney. People see what surrounds them, and that's what gives people the skewed sense of isolated in these parts.

One thing that's not always realised when highway twinning comes up for the sections north of New Glasgow is that traffic through there isn't only connecting areas on Cape Breton with the rest of Nova Scotia, but also connecting Newfoundland to the rest of the country. The traffic heading to Newfoundland is mostly truck traffic, because I'm sure anybody that knows distances on Newfoundland would agree you'd have to be insane or really love driving to use the highway system to visit places on mainland Canada.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by someone123

Propping up declining rural areas has become a kind of obsession in Canada, but in the end it does not change the root causes of these trends. We have spent a lot of money without much to show for it.

On the other hand, I'm sure you will agree that some people are not meant to live in cities. I see many people who really should be living in rural areas

[Smevo]

^Again, very true. Unfotunately, a lot of our cities' growth comes from rural areas. As much as we like to think rural areas are insignificant, they do provide the agricultural necessities that allow us urbanites to live. Anyway, it is sad to see rural areas declining, but in today's economy, rural areas are less significant (though I'm not saying they're not important) than they were in the past. All the same, there will always be a need for rural areas and the micro-economies that come with them.

In my belief, we are blessed in the Maritimes to have several urban areas which are in a position to thrive given the right circumstances. With the upcoming upswings in Saint John and the greater Sydney Area, in addition to the Moncton, Fredericton, Charlottetown, and Halifax current situation, the Maritimes are in a very good postition to start advancing again and becoming more important on the national scale, especially if the Atlantic Gateway proposal goes through.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[someone123]

Rural areas do provide many necessities, but their total output is growing, not shrinking. The reason why rural populations are falling is that more and more of that kind of work can be done with fewer people and more of it is being done in other countries.

Whether or not somebody moves to the city should be a personal decision based on the benefits/drawbacks of both urban and rural life (and there are many urban problems, but a disproportionate amount of money goes to solving rural issues).