I　Ｈａｖｅ　ｐｏｓｔｅｄ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｏｎ　Ｃａｎａｄａ　Ｕｒｂａｎ　ｐａｒｔ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｆｏｒｕｍ．　　Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ，　ｓｉｎｃｅ　Ｈａｌｉｆａｘ　ｉｓ　ｏｎｅ　ｏｆ　ｍｙ　ｆａｖｏｒｉｔｅ　Ｃａｎａｄｉａｎ　ｃｉｔｉｅｓ，　Ｉ＇ｌｌ　ｐｏｓｔ　ｉｔ　ｈｅｒｅ　ａｎｄ　ｌｅｔ＇ｓ　ｓｅｅ　ｈｏｗ　ＨＦＸ　ｉｓ　ｍｅａｓｕｒｉｎｇ　ｕｐ．　　Ａｔ　ｌｅａｓｔ，　ＨＦＸ　ｈａｓ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｄｅｃｅｎｔ　ｃｏｌｌｅｇｅ／ｕｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｉｓ，ｒｉｇｈｔ？


According to Wharton real estate professors Peter Linneman and Albert Saiz in their study on Predicting Population Growth in the U.S. (which I thought could be applied in Canada as well):

"Cities will have to start thinking of growth in a more competitive way," says Saiz. "To an extent, this is already happening. The strategy used to be that if you wanted to attract jobs and nurture growth, a city would try to attract the big firms. That isn't enough now."

As the authors see a new United States taking shape, many variables come into play. The kind of amenities that a city or region has to offer emerge as key ingredients in the high-growth formula. "Growth today," Saiz notes, "is based on quality of life, prevailing trends, the availability of parks and recreation, the character and variety of the architecture, the climate, taxes ... and, above all, the quality of education available in any given location."

Of all the demographic, economic, political, geological and weather-related growth indicators, the authors single out education as the most compelling and permanent factor. "Growth means more than jobs, jobs and more jobs," Saiz cautions. "The brightest, most highly-skilled, most sought-after workers are going to be attracted to the cities with the most amenities. Increasingly, the jobs are following the workers," rather than people following the jobs. These workers "have to be sure that educational opportunities are going to be there for them and their children. In short, smart cities grow faster. We find the same to be true on the county level."

I　Ｈａｖｅ　ｐｏｓｔｅｄ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｏｎ　Ｃａｎａｄａ　Ｕｒｂａｎ　ｐａｒｔ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｆｏｒｕｍ．　　Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ，　ｓｉｎｃｅ　Ｈａｌｉｆａｘ　ｉｓ　ｏｎｅ　ｏｆ　ｍｙ　ｆａｖｏｒｉｔｅ　Ｃａｎａｄｉａｎ　ｃｉｔｉｅｓ，　Ｉ＇ｌｌ　ｐｏｓｔ　ｉｔ　ｈｅｒｅ　ａｎｄ　ｌｅｔ＇ｓ　ｓｅｅ　ｈｏｗ　ＨＦＸ　ｉｓ　ｍｅａｓｕｒｉｎｇ　ｕｐ．　　Ａｔ　ｌｅａｓｔ，　ＨＦＸ　ｈａｓ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｄｅｃｅｎｔ　ｃｏｌｌｅｇｅ／ｕｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｉｓ，ｒｉｇｈｔ？


According to Wharton real estate professors Peter Linneman and Albert Saiz in their study on Predicting Population Growth in the U.S. (which I thought could be applied in Canada as well):

"Cities will have to start thinking of growth in a more competitive way," says Saiz. "To an extent, this is already happening. The strategy used to be that if you wanted to attract jobs and nurture growth, a city would try to attract the big firms. That isn't enough now."

As the authors see a new United States taking shape, many variables come into play. The kind of amenities that a city or region has to offer emerge as key ingredients in the high-growth formula. "Growth today," Saiz notes, "is based on quality of life, prevailing trends, the availability of parks and recreation, the character and variety of the architecture, the climate, taxes ... and, above all, the quality of education available in any given location."

Of all the demographic, economic, political, geological and weather-related growth indicators, the authors single out education as the most compelling and permanent factor. "Growth means more than jobs, jobs and more jobs," Saiz cautions. "The brightest, most highly-skilled, most sought-after workers are going to be attracted to the cities with the most amenities. Increasingly, the jobs are following the workers," rather than people following the jobs. These workers "have to be sure that educational opportunities are going to be there for them and their children. In short, smart cities grow faster. We find the same to be true on the county level."


The employment situation in Halifax is quite good. Unemployment is at about 5%, however jobs still usually do not pay enough to keep educated and skilled youth from moving to Toronto or Alberta.

I did a little research during my insomnia :)

Here are two job categories that I check on monster.ca and I also listed the percentage by which nation/TO/Calgary is higher than HFX. Interestingly, the two job categories seem to have same salary difference amongst the four regional classifications.

Sales Analyst II

Median Pct higher than HFX
Halifax $57,259 n/a
Canada $60,595 6%
Toronto $67,667 18%
Calgary $62,683 9%


Electrical Engineer I

Median Pct higher than HFX
Halifax $51,318
Canada $54,308 6%
Toronto $60,646 18%
Calgary $56,179 9%

I know you have to factor in differences in the cost of living and other amenities that a city/location has to offer before judging based on absolute salary $ amount. Can someone help with that so that we better understand where HFX stand nationwide?? Thanks. :wave: :wave:

well crossroad a model of the united states that attracts big firms to cities in the 2000's I dont think exists anymore and really never did. Yuo basically get regional headqarters of much larger companeis and that is about it. If you really look at history cities in the united states are known for self-starting businesses.
I can list a few here
Atlanta- Home Depot, Coca cola , Turner Broadcasting, Delta Arilines
Seattle- Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing
Chicago- Chicago Steel and Iron , Sears , Case, Unties Airlines
Denver-coors
Memphis- Fed ex
Charlote, NC- Lowes, RJ Renolds
San Francisco bay area- Cisco systems, Palm , Intel
Portland Oregon- Nike, Greenbrier
Pittsburg- Heinz, US airways
Miami- Blockbuster, Carnival,
Minneapolis- 3M, Target.
most all of these companies are the products of paradigm shifts and self starters who saw a way to do things differently, more efficiently or with products that people would eventually want in mass.

Those are some examples of companies that started as regional or state players to go on to national and international companies. Once you have the executive talent developed in an area a move to a so called attractive city is difficult and in most cases not desired. People make their homes and their families make their lives.
Usually competitors in an industry are parked in the same city. A good example was Akron Ohio with Goodyear and Firestone being located there. Their other major competitors are located in Paris, France and Toyko, Japan.
Then you have the rural headquartered firms that are becoming the way that large companies are turning to do business. That factor is starting to come into play because of Wal-Marts success out of a litttle town of 10,000. Wal-mart in bentonville was able to slay Sears in Chicago. While Sears was investing in the worlds tallest building being distracted by all chicago has to offer, Wal- mart in a small headquarters was investing in inventory control via their own Satellite. Wal-mart with rural thinking was making practical cost saving choices, Sears was making choices to make a ego based statement with a false impression. Hence why Wal mart became the worlds biggest company despite the so called rural background.

In nova scotia we have a very similiar story with the sobeys grocery chain being the second largest in canada and being headquarted out of stellarton nova scotia, a town of 5,000. Sobeys turned down 35 million dollars from the ontario government to move their headquarters to ontario. In the case of many companies it is not the theatres,sports teams or other things an area that might provide that attracts a Talented People to work for the company. It is the pure economics of going where the work is. In sobeys case the company is buying the local airport that they land their two learjets on to make executive trips to toronto. Sobeys could not afford to do that in ontario or hlaifax for that matter. Sobeys executives would not get the large houses they have at the price they get them for in rural nova scotia. You might eventually see food manufacturers having branch sales offices in Stellarton much like Wal-mart has drawn sales offices for every single major manufacturer of consumer products to Bentonville, Arkansas. Sobeys is the biggest private employer that is nova scotian owned with over 17,000 employeed by the company.
IF early in the growth of sobeys they relocated headquarters to Halifax for example they certainly would not be as big as they are today. Cities certainly provide opportunity via a location that is usually based in history or geography.

jim jones

well crossroad a model of the united states that attracts big firms to cities in the 2000's I dont think exists anymore and really never did. Yuo basically get regional headqarters of much larger companeis and that is about it. If you really look at history cities in the united states are known for self-starting businesses.
I can list a few here
Atlanta- Home Depot, Coca cola , Turner Broadcasting, Delta Arilines
Seattle- Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing
Chicago- Chicago Steel and Iron , Sears , Case, Unties Airlines
Denver-coors
Memphis- Fed ex
Charlote, NC- Lowes, RJ Renolds
San Francisco bay area- Cisco systems, Palm , Intel
Portland Oregon- Nike, Greenbrier
Pittsburg- Heinz, US airways
Miami- Blockbuster, Carnival,
Minneapolis- 3M, Target.
most all of these companies are the products of paradigm shifts and self starters who saw a way to do things differently, more efficiently or with products that people would eventually want in mass.

Those are some examples of companies that started as regional or state players to go on to national and international companies. Once you have the executive talent developed in an area a move to a so called attractive city is difficult and in most cases not desired. People make their homes and their families make their lives.
Usually competitors in an industry are parked in the same city. A good example was Akron Ohio with Goodyear and Firestone being located there. Their other major competitors are located in Paris, France and Toyko, Japan.
Then you have the rural headquartered firms that are becoming the way that large companies are turning to do business. That factor is starting to come into play because of Wal-Marts success out of a litttle town of 10,000. Wal-mart in bentonville was able to slay Sears in Chicago. While Sears was investing in the worlds tallest building being distracted by all chicago has to offer, Wal- mart in a small headquarters was investing in inventory control via their own Satellite. Wal-mart with rural thinking was making practical cost saving choices, Sears was making choices to make a ego based statement with a false impression. Hence why Wal mart became the worlds biggest company despite the so called rural background.

In nova scotia we have a very similiar story with the sobeys grocery chain being the second largest in canada and being headquarted out of stellarton nova scotia, a town of 5,000. Sobeys turned down 35 million dollars from the ontario government to move their headquarters to ontario. In the case of many companies it is not the theatres,sports teams or other things an area that might provide that attracts a Talented People to work for the company. It is the pure economics of going where the work is. In sobeys case the company is buying the local airport that they land their two learjets on to make executive trips to toronto. Sobeys could not afford to do that in ontario or hlaifax for that matter. Sobeys executives would not get the large houses they have at the price they get them for in rural nova scotia. You might eventually see food manufacturers having branch sales offices in Stellarton much like Wal-mart has drawn sales offices for every single major manufacturer of consumer products to Bentonville, Arkansas. Sobeys is the biggest private employer that is nova scotian owned with over 17,000 employeed by the company.
IF early in the growth of sobeys they relocated headquarters to Halifax for example they certainly would not be as big as they are today. Cities certainly provide opportunity via a location that is usually based in history or geography.

jim jones

"It is the pure economics of going where the work is. "

--- I think it must be very true years ago; but don't get me wrong, this is still very true and could be still the overriding factor out of all. However, society and demographics do change and I am boldly hypothesizing that today location of a job is getting more importnat than before as a bigger factor. Many people often ask: is that where you want to live and play? some of my friends are moving from the States to Canada due to factors other than economics. They want to live in a place where they can to better degreee, be themselves.

well crossroad a model of the united states that attracts big firms to cities in the 2000's I dont think exists anymore and really never did. Yuo basically get regional headqarters of much larger companeis and that is about it. If you really look at history cities in the united states are known for self-starting businesses.

....
jim jones

Jim, however, I learned a lot from your words. Thanks a lot...

The Sobeys example is a poor one though. While true that they are the 2nd largest supermarket chain in Canada, they are a fraction of the size of Loblaw -- essentially Sobey's entire sales volume is equal to Loblaws profit numbers. And groceries are not a high-margin business. The difference in scale is huge. Sobeys location in Stellarton is also reflective of their inability to attract and retain top-quality retail execs. Very few want to live in that area regardless of the salary. You see that in the quality of management at Sobeys which is reflected in how their stores look to the consumer, which is generally, a poor second to those of Loblaw. Sobeys will be lucky to survive another decade without getting either run out of business or swallowed up by a much bigger operator. A move out of Stellarton might be all that saves them.

Crossroad I think in theory people would like to take into consideration the great place to work and play thinking. In practical terms in canada just surviving economically is the name of the game. To me when you have the Work/Play theory you really have that as a promotion package by civil officials.

The area of nova scotia that I am from is not halifax but new glasgow and we have some of the leading companies here such as sobeys.Sobeys has a economic footprint into the southeastern united states with their partial onwership of the 6 th largest grocery chain in america Food Lion.
Our county we also have cancer rates that are way higher then halifax's. It would be easy for people to live in halifax if they really wanted to from this my part of the province but most bypass Halifax for Toronto and Alberta. The Halifax region nice as it is does not have heavy industries requiring trades like alberta and halifax is primarily a government/ university town. The employment situation is very entrenched there.

Jim jones

The Sobeys example is a poor one though. While true that they are the 2nd largest supermarket chain in Canada, they are a fraction of the size of Loblaw -- essentially Sobey's entire sales volume is equal to Loblaws profit numbers. And groceries are not a high-margin business. The difference in scale is huge. Sobeys location in Stellarton is also reflective of their inability to attract and retain top-quality retail execs. Very few want to live in that area regardless of the salary. You see that in the quality of management at Sobeys which is reflected in how their stores look to the consumer, which is generally, a poor second to those of Loblaw. Sobeys will be lucky to survive another decade without getting either run out of business or swallowed up by a much bigger operator. A move out of Stellarton might be all that saves them.

So where is it you gain this knowledge of sobeys? Considering they a few years ago bought the number three food retailer in the country Oshawa foods for a billion dollars and then flipped the wholesale part of Oshawa foods to Cisco the wholesale food giant from the united states for a billion I think they have done very very well for themselves.
As to executive talent the county with more members on boards of directors on canadian banks then any county in canada mianly because of the sobeys.
The talent is well known on Bay Street.

Sobeys is not going anywhere but to places halifax business can only dream. Halifax businesses dont have the attention span beyond 30 years. The self starter in the last 35 year of Metro have gone on paridigm shifts like Cable Tv and Cellphones and Home Audio/Electroincs in the HRM area and cashed out to interests outside the HRM area. Sobeys are now entering their 4 th generation in the business. Oh and in regards to how a sobeys store looks it seems odd that many years they win awards for store design and presentation.

If there is going to be a take over of sobeys it will be from the waltons of arkansas themselves.

jim jones

Oh and in regards to how a sobeys store looks it seems odd that many years they win awards for store design and presentation.


Their main claim to fame seems to be rundown stores badly in need of cleaning and renovation, presenting half-rotted produce and stale baked goods. Awards for their red-brick boxes are few and far between.

Their main claim to fame seems to be rundown stores badly in need of cleaning and renovation, presenting half-rotted produce and stale baked goods. Awards for their red-brick boxes are few and far between.

Yes you certainly are the voice of intellgence or how about Metro Envy LOLOL.

considering there are now more sobeys sotres in the provinces of ontario and alberta then Sobeys home province of nova sctoia the chain is certainly growing to rebrand and build new stores in those province. Now the same cant be said for Wacky Wheatley's, Downeast Mobility, Access Cable or any of those other HRM companies that are now owned by outside owners. The 30 year business plan on a fad is what business in hlaifax is about. LOLOL

jim jones

Yes you certainly are the voice of intellgence or how about Metro Envy LOLOL.

considering there are now more sobeys sotres in the provinces of ontario and alberta then Sobeys home province of nova sctoia the chain is certainly growing to rebrand and build new stores in those province. Now the same cant be said for Wacky Wheatley's, Downeast Mobility, Access Cable or any of those other HRM companies that are now owned by outside owners. The 30 year business plan on a fad is what business in hlaifax is about. LOLOL

jim jones

Yeah but Sobey's is all Pictou has going for it. And it isnt home grown businesses that mostly make up Halifax, its outside businesses setting up their regional headquarters.

Sobeys has entertained the idea of moving to Halifax many times, and they have stated that they would move there instead of moving to Ontario (at one point they were offered money by Ontario's provincial government).

The problem with Stellarton is that it's a small town, and few people like true towns that don't have easy access to a larger nearby centre (they like fake "towns" like Bedford). Even larger places in Atlantic Canada suffer from a similar fate. A lot of offshore-related business that could be done in St. John's for example happens in Halifax because Newfoundland is so isolated and sparsely populated. Halifax itself, of course, also deals with this problem every day as it competes with larger centres like Toronto.

The bottom line is that bigger cities tend to have more of a draw. People will move to them even if their cost of living is high because they benefit from so many valuable amenities that they can't get elsewhere.

To some extent I think it's simply too late for Halifax to get that large, which is unfortunate. If it had about a million people by now it would have become a very attractive city. That's what it would have been had it become a proper regional centre for the Maritimes, but instead we have had fractured jurisdictions that have generally fought tooth and nail to prevent that.

The problem with Stellarton is that it's a small town, and few people like true towns that don't have easy access to a larger nearby centre (they like fake "towns" like Bedford). Even larger places in Atlantic Canada suffer from a similar fate. A lot of offshore-related business that could be done in St. John's for example happens in Halifax because Newfoundland is so isolated and sparsely populated. Halifax itself, of course, also deals with this problem every day as it competes with larger centres like Toronto.
.

The same happened in Thompson, Manitoba. ;)

Halifax, as a regional hub, is relatively successful in economic growth compared with small towns in Nova Scotia. Actually Halifax lagged behind since Central Canada began booming in 1900s. Canada's business centre is no longer in Halifax, and infrastructure in Ontario and Quebec was blooming. This trend did not really stop even recently. Central Canada, with its proximity to Central United States, forms a solid industrial belt which secured job growth until 1970s, while Halifax, relatively isolated in the East, did not benefit from its advantage being in an important centre between Europe and North America. Halifax did not become successful in forming the "bridge" between Europe and North America, when compared to Toronto and Montreal. Why so? Maritime Province strongly relies on traditional industries, investment to the region is consistently less than Central Canadian cities.

The main advantage of Halifax is its port. I'm sure the natural gas industry in the region would increase Halifax's job opportunities. And as I know, Halifax, unlike some small towns in Nova Scotia, has very low unemployment rate in Canadian standard. Income is moderate, as the living cost in Halifax is much lower than Central Canada.

To some extent I think it's simply too late for Halifax to get that large, which is unfortunate. If it had about a million people by now it would have become a very attractive city. That's what it would have been had it become a proper regional centre for the Maritimes, but instead we have had fractured jurisdictions that have generally fought tooth and nail to prevent that.

Why is it too late? Doesn't HRM want to grow and compete with other commerce centers?

Vancouver benefited a lot from the Asia-pacific trade, so can HFX benefit from the Ameirca-Euro trade and logistics. Has there been any work on this? Nice posts, guys.

Doesn't HRM want to grow and compete with other commerce centers?

By the way the HRM and the provincal government act you would think the answer is no. They would be fine just for Halifax to be a 'nice' tourist town stuck in the 19th century.

By the way the HRM and the provincal government act you would think the answer is no. They would be fine just for Halifax to be a 'nice' tourist town stuck in the 19th century.

Well atleast things wont be brought to that. I have a feeling times are changing for the better, and people are beginning to drift away from that mentality.

Vancouver benefited a lot from the Asia-pacific trade, so can HFX benefit from the Ameirca-Euro trade and logistics. Has there been any work on this? Nice posts, guys. That's a tough question. Somehow the port of Montreal gets more action than Halifax's does, even though it's much farther from Europe and closed half the year when the St. Laurence is frozen. Halifax is actually looking at expanding trade from Asia via the Suez Canal and if this is successful there should be a dramatic increase in shipping via Halifax. The port is also looking at short-distance shipping to the Great Lakes region.

Why is it too late? Doesn't HRM want to grow and compete with other commerce centers?

Vancouver benefited a lot from the Asia-pacific trade, so can HFX benefit from the Ameirca-Euro trade and logistics. Has there been any work on this? Nice posts, guys.

Well American Euro trade is just that New York-london, New york -paris
New york-Berlin . There is a little bit of port business but for the most part the europeans cut to the chase and send trade directly with the financial center of the world NYC. There is not even really strong ties between new england and halifax. Hence the Atlantica conference hled by the Irvings.
AS to home growth businesses and halifax it is partly true about regional headquarters for some companies being in halifax but Halifax is about 65 percent government and the companies that service the government or government employees. IMP would not exist without maintainance contracts with the armed forces. Nothing wrong with ti just the way halifax is and perhaps the reason there are few multi generational businesses in the HRM.

The problem with Stellarton is that it's a small town, and few people like true towns that don't have easy access to a larger nearby centre (they like fake "towns" like Bedford). Even larger places in Atlantic Canada suffer from a similar fate. A lot of offshore-related business that could be done in St. John's for example happens in Halifax because Newfoundland is so isolated and sparsely populated. Halifax itself, of course, also deals with this problem every day as it competes with larger centres like Toronto.

Well as to newfoundland they pretty much get everything dealing with their offshore which is many times Nova Scotias activity and worth . The newfoundland government prevented the Port Hastings Statia petrochemical storage facility from having Hiberia or newfoundland oil. The port hastings facility is owned by chicago steel and iron a fortune 500 company. Easy of access as far as stellarton to a larger centre is a myth because you have double lane highway and a 100 mile trip. If you go to the costco in halifax on a saturday and are from Pictou county you bound to run into people from pictou county. People from the Stellarton area do buy many things in hlaifax including cars. The people of stellarton dont pay the taxes of HRM ratepayers.

jim jones

It's like a 2 hour trip though. I was in Pictou County on the weekend for a rugby game, what a miserable drive. And yeah, we lost.

It's like a 2 hour trip though. I was in Pictou County on the weekend for a rugby game, what a miserable drive. And yeah, we lost.

Well glad you made it up to new glasgow and the scott weeks field I would assume. Too bad for your team the rugby teams here have always been pretty good. As far as a drive I cant see where is would be much different then any other double lane highway except if you are talking interstate down south. Maybe because I have done that route so much when it was a single lane that Double lane seems like a luxury compared to the old days?? I can remember the trip being 4 hours when I was a kid and that was pre double lane between halifax and truro
The drive between truro and new glasgow is generally boring as forest drives can be and i would admit to that but most people in this county dont mind and like that you can buy most any house for under 200,000 in the area. Beyond that you are looking at very custom palaces than would be millions elsewhere but are not breaking 700,000 dollars for land and construction combined. You are not going to get that in the HRM or anywheres else.
with the accessments low and relatively cheap land the advantages are many. No traffic jams to work and in some cases with sobeys head office people they can walk to work easily if they felt like it because of the walking trials throughtout new glasgow and stellarton.

jim jones.

The problem with Euro-American trade in terms of the Port of Halifax, or even the pipe-dream Strait of Canso container pier, is what happens to the cans once they hit land. You need solid rail connections to the NYC tri-state area and/or to Chicago. Rail coming out of HRM is bad (non-existent for the Strait, BTW, which is their biggest impediment to that ever happening) and it becomes near-impossible to move cans by rail to the tri-state area. There are just too many bad cinnections and delays. Chicago is a little better via Montreal but that's why the Port there is successful (aside from the federal subsidies of course). What the Port of Halifax needs is a newly-built double-track line from NB to the NYC area, which isn't likely to happen.

Halifax is also only served by one company, CN, and they haven't been all that wonderful to the city.

Canada's railway system was developed with Montreal and Toronto in mind, not Halifax.

Halifax is also only served by one company, CN, and they haven't been all that wonderful to the city.

Canada's railway system was developed with Montreal and Toronto in mind, not Halifax.

What is CN? Gracias.

CN is Canadian National. It services most of the railways in Canada. its also what the CN tower is named after :P.

The problem with Euro-American trade in terms of the Port of Halifax, or even the pipe-dream Strait of Canso container pier, is what happens to the cans once they hit land. You need solid rail connections to the NYC tri-state area and/or to Chicago. Rail coming out of HRM is bad (non-existent for the Strait, BTW, which is their biggest impediment to that ever happening) and it becomes near-impossible to move cans by rail to the tri-state area. There are just too many bad cinnections and delays. Chicago is a little better via Montreal but that's why the Port there is successful (aside from the federal subsidies of course). What the Port of Halifax needs is a newly-built double-track line from NB to the NYC area, which isn't likely to happen.


Well as to a canso pipedream it is actually a reality as I have talked to some people involved as contractors in construction that would be needed to be done with a container terminal. The land has been aquired and contracts are not far from be awarded for construction. Canso is an icefree deeper harbour then halifax. Halifax has 18 m drafts at low tide , Strait of canso is about 30 metres. Halifax certainly doesnt have a disadvantage with the deep difference as both ports have more then is required for the largest post panamax ships right now. New york and boston have to be dredged to maintain 50 feet of draft at low tide. Cansos only disadvantage right now is highways not being double lane from east of new glasgow to antigonish. That is soon to change.
The short line is no problem for many industries in north nova scotia including.
Two that sell their produces exclusively to the united states The gas fractionation plant, and canada's largest rail car plant. Beside those two customers two paper plants , one of michelin tires large facilties, a gypsum mine, a terminal that provides the coal from columbia to nova scotia power. The problem might be the increased capacity but the artist formerly known as the gym teacher and Peter cheech Mac kay will probably be looking into that as it is jobs in their districts and in the nova scotia rural base areas of conservatives.
As to Montreal not ice free and heavy government money for ice breaking in the winter.
This whole mythical goal of getting access directly to chicago is not neccesary. Getting to new england and boston is target that shippers should have by the most direct route thru Maine. Once you are into the eastern seaboard with 1/3 the population of the united states you are in the american market.
Once into the the Us rail system you are everywheres in that country.

jim jones