I attended the Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet last night. Lovely affair. Lots of positive energy – oozing it. You would think it was Phoenix in that room.
Don’t get me wrong. I think we need to project this type of image and that it does in some fashion feed on itself.
But, reality check. From 1991 to 2001 – the most recent Census period – Greater Moncton’s population growth was 37th out of the 100+ urban areas in Canada.
Every urban area (large and small) in Alberta grew faster.
I wonder if Red Deer’s Chamber of Commerce is so giddy?
I think this region has gone so long without any real strong growth that when we get a hiccup, we levitate.
The problem is that in the 1990s, Greater Moncton attracted over two dozen major corporation such as UPS, Camco, Royal Bank, FedEx, Imperial Oil, etc. which provided the strong business investment needed to stimulate growth in other areas of the economy (retail, construction, lawyers, accountants, other personal services).
We need to sustain that pace of new external business investment if we want to continue these rah rah sessions each year.