Future bright but Halifax bureaucracy a drawback

My notes below are not to stress or distress my fellow Cape Bretoners as we are moving forward in a very positive direction as a Community of Communities through the hard work of our mayor, council, MPs, industry and community members.

Our MLAs from all parties, councils and MPs work hard with me and many others to help Cape Breton, but I feel the bureaucrats are keeping us down.

It is my belief that it is an uphill battle because of the centre cluster in Halifax pushing us back. This is not the stereotypical cry of being against Halifax. I am not. We are on the cusp of the most positive, encouraging and innovative future we’ve been able to imagine in long time.

Step back to the year 1995 when you had towns and the rest of us in the rural coastal areas being sold the Cape Breton County Economic Development Authority by politicians. This came with the promise of one-stop shopping. Then they closed all the economic development offices in the former towns and counties. How did that work out?

Now, Business Cape Breton is bringing in a Halifax firm and paying them $225,000.00 to write a plan. What happened to Cape Breton First?

Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) continues to attract businesses to Nova Scotia, investing millions in new companies that set up in Halifax, but rarely do they send business investment to Cape Breton. I have met with some of these companies and they tell us NSBI never mentioned Cape Breton as an investment opportunity.

Now we have INNOVACORP (sponsoring COVE) investing in Oceans entrepreneurial start-ups in Dartmouth doing the same. They announced recently they have up to 75 companies interested in investing tens of millions of public and private funds in COVE because that is where the money and the incubator centre for Oceans is to be located with the help of big funding from INNOVACORP.

They tell us this in Cape Breton as we sit here with up to 32 per cent unemployment in some areas and 18 per cent in others. It feels like nothing has changed, smearing success in our face.

Another issue of great concern to the rural areas of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) is the proposed “Phased in Tax” for town cores. While I agree the cores need additional investment, attracting business with discounted taxes over rural areas will only encourage businesses to vacate these areas. The fault with these types of initiatives is that the bureaucrats proposing these changes do not look at the complete picture. Further, they do not consult.

Elected officials should demand to know the return on investment from INNOVACORP, NSBI, Invest Nova Scotia and Business Nova Scotia. What is the plan forward for Cape Breton in Oceans, IT, start-ups, entrepreneurship, research and development, trades training, automation, processing, manufacturing, moving the Nova Scotia Community College, etc.? It is well past time to engage the private sector with the help of the Cape Breton Partnership, Regional Enterprise Network and the CBRM to determine where we are going with economic development in both rural and urban Cape Breton.

Moving forward I hope to show the residents of Cape Breton some of the wonderful, innovative programs that are out there from the federal and provincial governments concerning Oceans, innovation, entrepreneurial startups, IT, ICT, and virtual reality. We must become a working cluster in Cape Breton and apply for these programs as communities, industries and elected officials. Together. Our local bureaucrats are ready to step up and help.

Our future awaits us and it is a positive one.

Dannie Hanson

Albert Bridge

(VP, sustainability and public affairs, Louisbourg Seafoods)