Comfort Zones – Anticipating Change – and Municipal Progress

I’m visiting Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia for a few days.  It would have been nice to spend a few days skiing at Cape Smokey, which offers a stunning ocean view, but that’s not to be on this visit.  Here’s a link to the Cape Smokey website should you want to see the spectacular view across the water https://capesmokey.ca/

As a result of breaking from my usual routine, and being here for a few days, I’ve been thinking about community identities, things we hold to be unchangeable and immovable, and comfort zones.  I grew up here in Sydney on Cape Breton Island.  Sydney was and is a small town of about 30,000 people. In 1992 the Nova Scotia provincial government decided that 67 municipal governments in a province of 900,000 people was too many.  As a result of a study and recommendation, in 1995 Sydney was amalgamated with 6 other entities to form the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM). CBRM suddenly appeared as a municipality, and market, with 100,000 citizens. 

Since 1981, I have lived in Saint John, in the smaller province of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia’s neighbor. I didn’t pay much attention to the Nova Scotia amalgamations at the time.  However, as the 1990s ended I noticed on my visits to Sydney that business investment took off. To my observation it was mainly with big box stores, but they did arrive and invest, and hire people. I noticed further investment in infrastructure that occurred to support the new construction, particularly in roads and interchanges. While it wasn’t obvious to me, I’m confident that the investment in infrastructure, the creation of jobs, and the subsequent development of local talent benefitted the local economy. 

I surmise that the big box stores arrived because where there had previously been a town of 30,000 people, there was what suddenly looked like a small city of 100,000 people, that was the result of the amalgamation of the 7 local towns into one governmental entity.  When a business is investing, a city and market of 100,000 is more attractive than a town of 30,000 people. 

This growth and investment occurred even though people didn’t move. People stayed in their homes in Whitney Pier and Dominion but were now in a municipality of 100,000 people. Today I continue to visit Sydney to see my family. We still visit the excellent Black Spoon Bistro in North Sydney (https://www.blackspoon.ca/)   The ferry to Newfoundland still departs from North Sydney.  The Fortress of Louisbourg hasn’t moved from the town of Louisbourg since France built the massive fortifications in 1720.  You can see more about Louisbourg at https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/ns/louisbourg/visit. Sydney, Louisbourg North Sydney, and others continue to have their community identities within the governmental body of CBRM.

I write this because I’m obsessed with change and comfort zones. I’m sure the amalgamation of these local governments was controversial at the time. But life didn’t seem to change for the worse for people, and while I’m not an economist it is apparent to me that the region has grown. And these days in my home province of New Brunswick, some amalgamation is about to take place.  340 entities are being amalgamated into 90. This is pushing some people out of their comfort zones, and forcing people to deal with change. People are concerned their small town will lose its identity.  However, I don’t perceive that that happened in CBRM.

As I reflect on the experience of municipal reform in Nova Scotia, as I saw it, I believe it’s another lesson that while change is uncomfortable, we often worry too much about the effects. We do need to anticipate and plan for the effects. But regardless the world around us will evolve.  As individuals, and as communities of various forms, we need to respond and evolve appropriately.  If we stay in one place and refuse to evolve, we’ll be left behind as others change and adapt themselves.