Out in the Cold?

For generations, northern New Brunswick has suffered the indignities of rural desolation: shuttered mills, outmigration among the young, and ageing population. No more, perhaps. For the first time in 40 years, the Government of New Brunswick has targeted the north for renewal. Is it altruism or hard-nosed pragmatism in a province that can ill-afford anchors on its prosperity?

It is the morning after news broke about one of the most pivotal decisions in New Brunswick history – the agreement to sell NB Power to Hydro-Quebec – and the province’s economic development mandarin is fielding media calls and juggling interview requests faster than a Hollywood publicist. Is it any wonder, then, that Victor Boudreau sounds just a tad relieved when I pose questions about a less spectacular, if no less significant, issue: the fate of rural communities enduring diminishing returns, haemorrhaging industries, and shrinking populations?

“The one thing that’s going to bring you back to wherever you are from in this province is a decent job,” says the Minister of Business New Brunswick somewhat prosaically. “And that’s why we need to focus on helping the great entrepreneurs in the north to expand.”

Boudreau speaks of the “north” the way most people do in New Brunswick: as a synonym for “rural”. Though the province is home to myriad small communities scattered across its central and southern reaches, these towns and villages tend to benefit economically from their proximity to the cities of Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton and, to a lesser degree, Miramichi. Not so for the ribbon of settlements that stretches through Northumberland, Victoria, Madawaska, Restigouche, and Gloucester counties. And for this reason, this region has been a perennial burr in the side of provincial governments, of every political stripe, for more than half-a-century.

No more, perhaps. For the first time in decades (or so say Premier Shawn Graham’s Liberal planners and politicians), ‘official Fredericton’ is moving aggressively to provide much-needed economic development support for the region.

In 2008, the provincial government unveiled its four-year $100-million Northern New Brunswick Infrastructure Initiative. According to its mandate, the program provides overall management and oversight responsibilities to the Regional Development Corporation, under the auspices of the Department of Business New Brunswick. Local municipalities and community economic development groups apply for funding on a case-by-case basis. And regardless of the actual county-by-county needs, money is dispersed according to a “strategic” metric of “priority areas,” namely: transportation and business infrastructure.

Specifically, says the official documentation: “These [efforts] will upgrade transportation infrastructures by creating stronger links between the producers and the market; by investing in communications technologies; by supporting strategic industrial parks; and by developing an infrastructure that supports a resource industry and other key sectors. In order to become a self-sufficient province, we must ensure that all regions of New Brunswick have adequate tools in place.”

Another “tool” in this vein which has materialized for the north over the past few months is the Canada-New Brunswick Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, valued at more than $99-million over the next five years. “The need for this is clear,” says the joint federal-provincial backgrounder. “Municipal leaders consistently identify infrastructure as their most pressing issue. Many municipalities must repair roads, water and sewage systems that were put in place decades ago. Through this and other infrastructure programs, the Governments of Canada and New Brunswick enable municipalities to get going on projects that otherwise might be stalled for years.”

Still, the most convincing – and most recent – shift in policy is the Graham government’s decision to break with the centralized traditions of the past and provide the north with its own agency, or secretariat, of the Department of Business New Brunswick. “This will be based in Bathurst, and it will be headed by an Assistant Deputy Minister,” Boudreau explains. “The agency will be comprised of about 20 people who will cover all the different sectors that BNB normally covers – investment attraction, business development, financial services, and the like.”

What delights Boudreau most about this approach is its tailored, targeted aspect. “To really put a focus on solving the problems of northern New Brunswick, we have to get closer to those problems right on the ground,” he says. “With this, entrepreneurs will be closer to the public decision makers. At the same time, our officers will be better able to obtain the knowledge they need about the real challenges up there. They will be better able to get to know the companies, and they will be better able to help market them.”