I had a great chat with a guy that has been doing a fair amount of economic development work in Northern New Brunswick. We had a good laugh about the story of the high priced Toronto and Montreal consultants coming in and telling these northern communities that they have to ‘diversify’ their economies. That’s a side splitter.
Because essentially they are telling these communities not to rely on the large, anchor employers like the pulp mills and the smelters of the past. They argue for a bunch of smaller projects to ‘diversify’.
Bull crap. These companies stayed in the communities for decades. They were the economic pillars of the economy. We need more of these not less.
Without these economic anchors, the north is doomed. Mark my words. If we don’t find a way to reseed the next generation of Bowaters, UPMs, etc. the area will dry up.
And you don’t need a $250,000 Montreal consultant to tell you that.