In the last quarter of 2013, only two Canadian provinces didn’t lose residents to other regions. Alberta was the big gainer, welcoming 5,663 new residents to Wild Rose Country’s parallel-universe economy.
The runner-up was—wait for it—Nova Scotia. Two thousand four hundred and sixty-five people left and 2,736 arrived, for a net gain of 271 newcomers. For the first time in years, more Canadians moved to Nova Scotia than away. Two thousand fourteen’s numbers aren’t out yet, but I know one person in the positive tally: me.
In February, I relocated from Toronto, in spite of warnings from expat Haligonians, who must be the world’s most discouraging civic ambassadors. (“You leave Halifax,” cautioned one.) I knew the city, and came for the revitalizing neighbourhoods, gorgeous historical building stock and access to Atlantic Canada’s extraordinary amenities.
I also came for the economy.
Last year, several colleagues and I were laid off from (poorly paid) jobs at a Toronto magazine. Afterwards, I landed a temporary, no-benefits gig at a non-profit. I was lucky—more than 250 people applied. With Toronto’s January unemployment rate above 10 percent (eight percent in the GTA), and over 40 percent of the region’s jobs part-time or temporary, lots of friends and colleagues were living the roommates-and-ramen lifestyle into their 30s, stringing together sketchy freelance, contract or retail jobs, despite master’s degrees and finely calibrated resumes. Statistics Canada made Halifax, by contrast, look positively enticing: higher employment levels, more full-time jobs, median incomes above Toronto’s, Montreal’s or Vancouver’s, and a relatively low cost of living.
I knew I was moving against a prevailing westward trend. But I was still shocked to find Halifax’s civic dialogue fixated on a masochistic narrative of decline—and on some bizarrely unrealistic notions of how much greener the grass is elsewhere. Maybe it’s because I’m from Canada’s capital of irrational boosterism (Calgary), but I’m starting to get chicken-or-egg feelings about our out-migration problem: What came first? The out-migration, or the endless lamentation about it?
Here in The Coast, there’ve been five pieces on the topic in four months (including two with the words “Farewell to Nova Scotia” right in the headline). All reflect an uncontested assumption that Halifax is…limiting. Uncompetitive. Poor. Not for the ambitious. The proof? No proof. We know. The thing is, on virtually all economic fundamentals—employment rates, job-market competitiveness, after-tax disposable incomes—Halifax compares to or bests national averages. (Note: I realize rural Nova Scotia is a whole different situation, see below.) So if our civic conversation is premised on a grossly exaggerated assumption of underperformance, how can it be honest, or productive? Well…it can’t.
Consider youth unemployment: The consensus is that we’re in crisis. But at 15 percent last year, our rate is little worse than the national rate: 14.5 percent. (Halifax’s full-time youth employment even rose seven percent last year.) And while we do considerably worse than prairie cities, we’re far from Canada’s worst—Toronto’s youth-unemployment rate just hit 23 percent.
Consider immigration: They just get here and head to Ontario or Alberta, right? Actually, our retention has skyrocketed. Halifax boasts among the highest immigrant-employment rates and incomes in the country. What’s more, 40 percent are working in their chosen fields, compared to 24 percent in Ontario, or 22 percent in BC.
I could go on. After last fall’s provincial election, ousted premier Darrell Dexter hinted at a similar gulf between belief and reality. Quoted in the Globe and Mail, he described constituents in the north end flatly denying the federal shipbuilding contract will create jobs, even though, he said, “Those people could look out their doors and see the cranes.”
I’m not disputing our difficulties. Our economy is decent, not exceptional. Our demographics are worrisome. And the discrepancy between urban Nova Scotia and rural Nova Scotia is dramatic.
So this is not a plea for complacency, but for perspective. If we want to do better—and have an honest conversation about our future—we need to reject groundless grass-is-greenerism, which risks becoming self-fulfilling, driving people away out of cultural expectation more than necessity. We need to swap civic stereotypes for facts. Especially, we need to believe this is a remarkable place, with remarkable potential. Two hundred and seventy-one people just voted with their feet to that effect, after all.
Matthew Halliday has lived in Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Calgary again, Edmonton, Toronto and now Halifax. He’d like to keep that list from growing any longer.
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This article appears in May 1-7, 2014.
The penninsula is dying. I Would have liked to have read an article about “booming Halifax” who has lived there the last few years. Could someone get Mark Black to write a response to this? The sad truth is, you do leave Halifax.
Excellent perspective and points made! Great to see some positivity about this city for once and what the author says is true – we are at the starting point of exciting times and we need to believe in ourselves and this city to move forward. I’m choosing this over the naysayers and all-consuming negativity people have about this province and everything in it. It’s not to say there aren’t challenges, there are many, so instead of complaining, whining and having this “WOE IS US” attitude – DO something about it. Act differently, think differently or quite frankly – leave. Get out and let those of us who have a positive attitude and a will to make change do so.
Four months ago, you had a gloomy article on how many people left the province in the past year as per Statistics Canada (http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/saying-fare…), now we get an article on how popular NS is with Canadian migrants, based on the latest Statistics Canada numbers.
I’m looking forward to the next overinterpretation of statistical blips.
I moved here from Toronto 6 years ago and never looked back. I’ve lived for extended periods in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver and have enjoyed more prosperity and happiness than any of those cities. I am perpetually surprised at the self defeating attitude of the natives. You have the best balanced city in the country for culture, cost, and beauty, and you don’t appreciate it. I worked in Toronto for all of February and almost every person is envious of my move here and want to do the same. Fly your flag high Halifax, I honestly believe this city IS, and I’m not just talking PR smack, the best in Canada.
It’s so nice to see someone pointing out the brighter side of life in Halifax. Thank you for addressing this. I hope you inspire people to drop the defeatist attitude and to look at life in this city in a more positive light.
Welcome to Halifax!
Halifax is not a city with wages to raise a family in, Halifax is not a city to do business in ranging in reasons from those with disposable income outside union employed and western university students to crushing tax rates, Halifax is not a city to live in if you make anything above the two lowest tax brackets in income.
I make double the wages pay less taxes, food averages out to 5% more at most, and my rent is $5 more a month since I left. For anyone who thinks I’m full of shit, hop onto kijiji and change the city from Halifax to Edmonton or Calgary and look in the job sections:
As of 03/05/14….
Halifax has 3,281 job postings.
Calgary has 26,264 job postings.
Edmonton has 25,000 job postings.
That doesnt include more professional sites, headhunters, internal postings, and so on. Haligonians need to realize that the mud they so incessantly roll about in shouting “WE’RE NUMBER ONE” reflects poorly on the region. The economy is bust by ALL possible measures, the ‘saving grace’ everyone is still banking on from Irving and the Feds is looking worse and worse, you have BARS, SURROUNDED BY UNIVERSITIES CLOSING, and youre bragging about not even 300 people moving here?
Whatever helps you guys sleep I guess, good luck saving up for your future and paying off those student loans serving my table when I visit.
I moved here 5 years ago, and I learned pretty quickly to ignore the local ‘no’ crowd. They just haven’t been anywhere else, so they just don’t know the difference. I’m not sure what started the negativity, but in the end, its easy to ignore. I just can’t why someone would stay in a place they don’t like. That is very odd.
That said, it would actually be nice to have more friends that are actually from the maritimes, but if they are going to be lame; let them lame on their own and toil in their own misery, lol. The ignorance is pretty tough and weird at first, but you have to move past it.
OMG IM GONNA TEAR MY FUCKING HAIR OUT!!! JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE LUCKY ENOUGH TO SUCCEED IN THIS ECONOMIC DEATHTRAP SHITHOLE OF A SO CALLED CITY DOESN’T MEAN THAT THE REST OF US DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT!! PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO LEAVE, PEOPLE DEFINITELY DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN ALBERTA OR SK. PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO BE AWAY FROM THEIR FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR WEEKS AT A TIME IN THE BITTER COLD IN FUCKING FORT MAC. THEY DO IT BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO. SERIOUSLY FUCK YOU.
JUST FUCK OFF WITH THIS SHIT! I’M NOT STUPID AND I’M NOT BLIND. I’M FUCKING SICK OF NOT BEING ABLE TO FIND A JOB DEPSITE MY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND CONVERSATIONAL BILINGUALISM. I’M SICK OF BEING UNDERVALUED AND UNDERPAID AND HAVING ZERO JOB SECURITY OR BENEFITS. I’M SICK OF EVERY SINGLE JOB POSTING GOING THROUGH THE SAME HANDFUL OF PLACEMENT AGENCY THAT NO DOUBT HAS 10 RESUMES FROM EVERY PERSON IN THIS CITY. THIS PROVINCE IS FULL OF EMPLOYERS WHO OPERATE HERE SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE THEY KNOW PEOPLE ARE DESPERATE AND WILL PUT UP WITH SHITTY PAY, HOURS, WORK CONDITIONS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE STARVING FOR JOBS.
IT’S ONE THING IF YOU RELOCATE HERE FROM TORONTO OR WHEREVER, BUT FOR THOSE OF US WHO GREW UP HERE IT’S REALLY DIFFICULT TO GET THE ENTRY LEVEL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED TO MOVE UP.
Pretending that things are better than they are doesn’t help anything. It just comes off as fucking pompous to me. I’m fucking sick of being told I’m the problem. Fuck you.
Fuck you’re a smug lookin little piece of shit. You’ve seriously fucked up my day.
Man, when people leave comments like Tj902’s there, it makes you think their job-finding hardships are more about their own BS attitude than about the city or the economy.
Hear, hear for the positive attitude by the author. Thing is, I’ve lived in HRM since the ’60’s (with time away in the States, other parts of Canada, and Europe), but mostly in HRM, and by and large most people here have always been happy to be here. The negativity talk occurs everywhere on the planet, it’s not unique to Halifax or Nova Scotia, and it’s always confined to a vocal minority composed of several identifiable groups of people. As is always the case, on any subject, a small minority of people make noise, and of those who do make noise, most are bitching.
The identifiable groups who bitch about Nova Scotia are ironically to be found almost everywhere else…bitching about *their* locality.
I need to re-emphasize a point. We don’t have any compelling problem here. The large majority of people are *not* negative, and those who are are typical of negative people anywhere.
As for JapaneseBirdCookingSpaghetti, yes, you’re fairly full of shit. If you seriously believe that higher income earners are badly disadvantaged by living here then you’re either young, misinformed or duped. If you’re making twice the income somewhere else that you did here, do you seriously believe that a job wherever you’re at pays twice what the equivalent job does in Halifax, across the board? Well, I guess if you’re earning more tips at your new job, it’s temporarily possible, but don’t go extrapolating.
What really gets me is that it’s the people like the writer of this article, who grew up in a much better job market, usually have a degree and come here in their late 20s or early 30s, having benefited from a place like Toronto that actually has enough openings to hire young folks with little to no experience so they can establish themselves. Then they come here, often with a good job already lined up or a solid resume that would be next to impossible for a person their age to attain around here, being that every industry only has a couple companies, many of them full of aging boomers who just won’t retire, and then look at people who grew up here, who, in contrast, were faced with very few choices upon graduating high school, who constantly were told that they didn’t have the necessary experience to get an entry level position, and say “hey what’s your problem?”. Can’t you all see how infuriating that is? I don’t need some asshole who just hopped off a plane into a 50k/year+ job telling me that Halifax has a bad attitude. Like if we just put a fucking smile on things will start to go our way.
So I should start at the bottom and work my up, you say? Sure, fair enough.
I had a steady job for 3 years, I was one of if not the best on the team. Clients and co workers loved me. Who did they hire when it came time to appoint a new manager? Some douchebag from Ontario with a degree and an extensive resume, who had never done my job or worked for the company, yet is somehow more qualified than anyone here in NS, internal or external from the company, to tell me how to do it. They claim they always look internally first. They hired another manager too. She was from Venezuela. That’s the problem. We won’t give our own a chance to be great. We always bring in outsiders because, hey, they’re more qualified. How do *we* get qualified? Leave. It’s a self perpetuating cycle. Many many people have to leave NS just to get the experience to be qualified for any of the jobs that pay a half decent wage/salary. Many of us don’t come back. We just don’t feel appreciated and often have a much easier time getting ahead elsewhere. This city is all about sucking up to out of towners and trying to convince the rest of the country/world that Halifax is so fucking great meanwhile the locals who grew up here get tossed aside. Why? Because they don’t want people to hear what we have to say.
Before I lost my job I would have somewhat agreed with this article, because I never had trouble getting a good job, until I lost one. Just one is all it took. Every other job I had been able to leave on good terms for something better. This is from the time I started working at 17 till I was 24. I went from Subway to doing phone surveys, spent 7 months doing phone sales in Montreal, came back, worked retail, pretty much every call centre and then landed my above mentioned job, which came with a respectable salary, great benefits package and great hours. During those 7 years I was never out of work except for when I chose to go to a private college full time.
I was at that job for 3 and a half years. Then everything changed. You have one dark spot on your resume that can really screw you, because, again, the running theme here is that there are SO MANY PEOPLE LOOKING FOR WORK and so many fewer positions available that it’s hard to compete against someone who doesn’t have to explain why they were let go. That was also right around the time the economy took a turn for the worse. Ever since then it’s become increasingly harder to land something steady because employers look at my resume and wonder what I’ve been doing these past 3 years. TRYING TO FIND SOMETHING STEADY, THAT’S WHAT!
So I’m currently working for a family member, pretty good hourly wage but no way to tell beyond a week in advance if there will actually be work. Nepotism ftw I guess. I still haven’t had any kind of benefits in years or been able to set aside a single dollar for the future, and it’s not because I live some extravagant party lifestyle. I can’t even afford to go for a drive most of the time. I stay home. I’m about to turn 27 in about a week. Again, a sincere fuck you. I wish I had never come back.
“Oh, I get it, you know what your problem is tj902? You don’t have an education! Of course you’re not going to be making the big bucks, it’s 2014! High school grads are the new high school drop outs! You’re lucky to even have a job!”
Don’t worry, I’m working on it. I have been waitlisted at NSCC for a trade for 2 years. My status is still waitlisted. I’m looking at the possibility of having to wait another whole year or even 2 before I can start school. This is the case for pretty much every single trade they offer, certainly the ones worth taking. Why? Because of the lack of job openings. The college tries to not flood the market with too many graduates because there aren’t enough openings. I have a few good friends who work in trades. They either are already out west or are thinking about it or have made up their minds and are planning their move. They’re sick of getting laid off all the time. But I’m the problem.
Message received loud and clear folks, I’ll be on the first plane the fuck out of here the minute I get my diploma. First year apprentices in my chosen field (electrical) make less than I make now in NS, like 14-15 bucks an hour. What a joke. Or, I could go work on a camp out west and make 100k in a year that I won’t have to touch because all my living expenses and food will also be paid for. I’ve seen guys do it. I have literally seen guys leave here with nothing and come home with upwards of 100k in their bank account, not even 2 years later. Their employers also fly them back to NS every so often. Or they’re still out there pulling in that kind of money, in some cases much more. How many guys in their 20s do you know in NS that make 180k/year. How many do you know that have more than 20k in their bank account? I don’t know many. Anyone I know around here that is close to my age and makes that kind of money is a drug dealer. In one year I’ll be able to have that kind of money in my checking account and I’ve worked with countless people in this town in their 50s who don’t have 2 pennies to rub together.
Tell me why the fuck I should spend another minute struggling to survive in this place with so much more opportunity just a plane ride away. Tell me again that if I only changed my attitude, that a great job would just fall out of the sky into my lap. You think I go into interviews with a big chip on my shoulder and a scowl? Answering questions in gangster speak and calling the HR lady a bitch? I can assure you that I’m not a fucking numbskull who doesn’t know how to go through a job interview. I’ve landed lots of jobs, but as soon I got fired from one it’s like I’m banished from all the good jobs in this city. Again, we’re not stupid. We’ve been here our whole lives and we know what we’re talking about. Take your condescending preaching the fuck back to Ontario. Thanks
I know for a fact that TJ902 is right.
I have been there, and I have seen the other side. I raised $10,000 (after rent and expenses) in 4 months living in Burnaby. I couldn’t raise that much money in two years out here.
TJ902 has a damn good point. Just because you can step off the plane and land a good job does not reflect the reality for the rest of us. We struggle with living here, we love it here and don’t want to leave and many, many, many of us bust our fucking asses to stay here, but eventually have to go somewhere else to make the skrillah so that we can buy a home, feed our kids, and own a car.
The rest of you who say it is just our shitty attitude are being smug and are ignoring the REALITIES the rest of us must live with.
Isn’t it cute that you can just rock up and slide into a sweet career with benefits. We would love that, and most of us would cling to that job for dear life.
Sooo, take your smug attitude, fold it in half and push it up your arse.
TJ902 has a valid point. I have seen both sides, I too have lived in Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax.
I was able to save up $10,000 in 4 months living in Burnaby (after rent and expenses), yet I couldn’t raise that much in two years out here.
You might be able to rock up on a plane and slide into a well paying career, but that does not reflect the reality for most of us.
I am also soooo very tired of people with decent jobs being smug about their success and shitting on the rest of us for failing to climb the social ladder, despite our education, and debt loads.
I know nowhere is perfect but Halifax (and even worse Nova Scotia) is a damn difficult place to make a life.
How are we to find success? How are we to buy homes, pay for cars, and feed our children?
I tried for nine months to find a job after returning here form BC. I work for the Halifax school board and no way, no way I could ever afford a house, or to have kids, or buy a new vehicle.
You might be doing okay, but your success is not an indication of how the vast majority of Nova Scotians are doing. We love it here, and wouldn’t leave for arbitrary reasons.
We aren’t stupid and many, many of us have been out west but returned because this is our home and we want to make it work.
Soo, take your smug attitudes and go fuck off.
@ golocal
You are so wrong it makes my head spin.
A lot of of have been plenty of other places.
We know, we have been there, so don’t patronize us.
Just because you are doing okay doesn’t mean to you get to tell us what we know.
Maaaybe you shouldn’t ignore us, but should listen to what we have to say and consider that with all the experience we have living here, we might know a thing or two.
Unfortunately like so many others, you will be dismissive and not take our concerns seriously.
So it goes.
Dude you must feel really stupid these days. Your facts are a little screwed up. In case you haven’t heard out migration from this place is at a ten year high while immigration and in-migration are at a ten year low. According to GHP, Haligonians packed their bags last year and left in record breaking numbers due to the lousy job market here. Nova Scotia’s depopulation disease has infected Halifax. And the job market here and in NS in general is just about the worst in the country. Jeez! Idiot! Yeah, you’re looking real smart these days.
@dododa
The writer begins the piece acknowledging the out-migration situation and how it peaked in 2013, while pointing out that it also went down in the last three months of the year, providing a silver lining. That’s all. So nothing you said contradicts anything in the article.
And no, the job market is not the worst in the country–people just think that it is, even though the facts say different. The GHP (Greater Halifax Partnership) also pointed out recently that our job market is pretty good by comparison with the country’s big cities, as is housing affordability, income levels, and all sorts of other things. Which is one of the ways we can attract immigrants.
But if you just wanna be a typical “we’re-fucked-and we-like-it-that-way-so-don’t-try-to-tell-us-any-different” Bluenoser, be my guest.
@pigeon Actually the facts clearly indicate that the employment situation and job market across NS is absolutely the WORST and this place amounts to nothing more than a sinking dead end best viewed in your rear view mirror. And, I don’t think that anyone considers the worst low wage and poor quality crap that this town has to offer as opportunity. DEAD END!
@dododa
Okay dude. That’s exactly the attitude the article is talking about.
The facts (like employment figures and income levels) actually put Halifax above average in almost every way. Across NS it’s obviously worse, but even there, it’s on par with other parts of the country, like southwestern Ontario and rural Quebec, that have suffered because factories are closing, etc.
Anyway, there’s no point arguing with you. You’ve made up your mind that it’s worse here, and you have no interest in looking at actual facts, and that’s fine. Just don’t spread your bad attitude round.