Some people are already being critical and cynical about the proposed “Chinese Village” that might be set up in Moncton. This is a project at the planning stages and needs much more work but I would urge you not to be so critical.
We are in an age when New Brunswick needs to get out front and be innovative if we want to stimulate economic development. The market for traditional, plain vanilla approaches to economic development is saturated. We can’t even win moderately sized projects like the AIM Trimark financial back office project that just announced on PEI.
If, and I say if, the backers of this project can attract millions in Chinese investment and hundreds of Chinese immigrants over the next 10 years, why not?
The whole purpose of the Chinese Village is to provide a comfortable venue (services, housing, etc.) for Chinese immigrants. It is not to build a city within a city that isolates the citizens from the rest of the residents.
We already know that immigrants in general are much more likely to put their kids in French Immersion programs (the bilingual rate (English/French – so technically trilingual) among persons with neither English or French as thier first language is much higher than those with English as a first language). They are embracing the dual culture in this community. We are talking about adding another cultural element in this community and I say bring it on. As long as we continue to nurture the community’s French and English heritage, I believe we must bring in thousands of immigrants over the next 10-20 years.
So to the folks championing this concept, I say bring it on.