I love following the debates that go on in other cities across Canada. Take Vancouver, ex-City Planners are ‘concerned’ that the current leadership is not doing enough to prepare the city for the rapid growth expected over the next 40 years. The article states that Metro Vancouver (the CMA) is expected to grow to around seven million by 2050.
The Vancouver CMA has 2.3 million today.
That is why I had to chuckle when I read this article.
Imagine if Moncton was planning to 420,000 people by 2050? Or Saint John 400,000 by 2050? Or how about the Halifax CMA planning to be 1.2 million by 2050?
It’s just not in our DNA to think like that.
Why not?
Moncton, for example, grew its population by over nine percent from 2006 to 2011. At that growth rate between here and 2052, the CMA would grow to more than 350,000 people – based on a proven growth rate (albeit a very short one).
If anyone was really expecting Moncton to grow to 350,000 people in my lifetime (84 in 2052), they would be raising the same red flag as the ex-City Planners in Vancouver.
We just don’t think that way.
Vancouver’s growth problems are more supply-side. They are simply running out of land to put the people. Greater Vancouver requires a complete shift to urbanization.
It will be a while before New Brunswick runs into those same issues. There are no major (physical) barriers to growth in Moncton, Saint John or Fredericton. Suburban sprawl here is not without its consequences, but will not be a land crisis for the foreseeable future.
The focus here remains on the demand-side first; creating jobs and attracting the people and risk-takers to fulfill those growth targets is the critical priority. I am optimistic New Brunswick is starting to move in the right direction for that to occur now.
Dare I ask what makes you so optimistic?
“Dare I ask what makes you so optimistic?”
Perhaps he thinks all the stupid things have been done; a glass half-full kind of guy.
I think planning in NB is more like one of those robotic floor cleaners. Without the right intervention, the darn things just go over the same ground again and again.
I work in IT, so I may have a biased perspective, but I have seen a lot of success stories since I moved here five years ago. Enough to convince me to stay.
@Lee Miller
Ah, that’s legit. Probably you’re working in Freddy or Moncton or SJ, the parts of NB that are actually viable 😛
I like it here too, but the long term province-wide numbers for population, employment and debt are discouraging.