The rise of the $6-billion Indigenous economy in Atlantic Canada
Here’s the Atlantic news we’re tracking this week, from the massive impact of Indigenous business to the best-tasting tap water in North America.
Big Indigenous business
A new report from the Atlantic Economic Council last week showed just how strong the region’s Indigenous economy has become. The report put the total economic impact of Indigenous businesses and communities at $6.2 billion of GDP in 2021, about 4.5 percent of region’s total output. (The available numbers are a few years old the but the trends have continued.) The sector supported 89,000 jobs, about eight percent of Atlantic Canada’s total and contributed $2.1 billion in tax revenue to government coffers. Overall, the Indigenous economy is 27 percent bigger than agriculture, double the size of the aerospace and defence industries, and has roughly 13 times the economic impact of international students attending university in the region.
The report also noted the benefits of Indigenous businesses to the non-Indigenous economy, including almost 26,000 jobs and $1.1 billion in wages and salaries. Not just the absolute numbers, but the growth of the sector has been impressive. The number of Indigenous-owned businesses has increased by 30 percent in the region since 2018, a time when the number of non-Indigenous-owned businesses fell by one percent. Entrepreneurship, “a key component of self-determination” as the report puts it, is growing faster — the number of self-employed Indigenous people in the Atlantic region grew 37 percent between 2016 and 2021 — and First Nations entrepreneurs tend to be younger, which bodes well for the future.
The report affirms “the significance of Indigenous communities and businesses across the region,” said John G. Paul, executive director of the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat. “The success of our region’s economy is strengthened by the contribution of Atlantic Indigenous communities and businesses. It is important to address their challenges to support continued growth.”
Serous challenges do remain, of course. Average wages for Indigenous people trail those of non-Indigenous by 11 percent across the region, and by a whopping 24 percent in New Brunswick. In part that’s because the population is younger, with fewer years in the workforce, but it’s also because education levels aren’t as high. Closing those gaps by 2041 would boost the region’s nominal GDP and employment by $2.5 billion and 10,000 jobs, respectively.
Indigenous businesses, particularly those on reserves, can still face difficulties accessing capital from traditional sources; the First Nations Fiscal Management Act is helping on that front, the report notes. So too are new(ish) institutions like the First Nations Finance Authority and the First Nations Major Project Coalition, which help First Nations participate in big infrastructure and natural resource projects.
MORE FROM PPF: Mark Podlasly on how Indigenous Loan Guarantees put Indigenous communities on a whole new path.
Homelessness on the rise
Atlantic Canada’s rising economic tide has not lifted all boats. The number of homeless in the Halifax Regional Municipality stood at 1,316 as of June 25, more than double the number in 2022, and the struggle to handle that population is not getting easier.
Halifax last week approved nine new encampment sites in parks and public spaces for the homeless to pitch tents. It had four existing sites, but they were getting overcrowded and tents were popping up at unapproved spots, leading to concerns from residents about crime, drug use and public safety. The city picked sites it said were not too close to schools, playgrounds, gardens or culturally sensitive areas, but that were close enough to transit and other services.
“We’re really looking for the best of the worst options,” said Bill Moore, executive director of Halifax’s community safety department. “This would be a small pressure release but if we continue to see the increase in numbers … we will be looking for additional spaces.” People occupying unofficial sites will be moved to approved areas, or into shelters.
The solution was not roundly popular. “What an awful choice,” said Councillor Sam Austin. “Our choice right now is which of our public spaces are we going to give up.” Premier Tim Houston called the choice of two sites, Halifax Commons and Point Pleasant Park, “completely nuts …[It’s] really hard to get your head around how council could think these would be appropriate sites and the impact that they would have on communities and on Nova Scotians.”
The city was quick to say the nine sites were still potential options, and more planning work had to be done. Still, Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said the city is in a tough spot: “We’re just left trying to plug holes in a broken system,” he told CBC.
LISTEN: Mike Savage on the challenges of a managing big city growth
Hopes that other “transitional” options for homelessness will materialize gained some steam last week. The province announced that a second village of 20 “pallet shelters” should be open soon in North Kentville, in the Annapolis Valley, following the first in March in Lower Sackville. All 20 shelters have arrived at Tiny Meadows, utilities have been hooked up and final inspections are underway. The province bought some 200 such shelters last winter and hopes to have them all move-in ready before winter. A third site in Sydney is expected to take delivery of 35 in late July and be ready for residents by early August, and construction is underway in Dartmouth on a fourth, a 41-unit pallet village for homeless and at-risk seniors.
Sailing away
The region’s sailing fans, and the Nova Scotia tourism industry, took a hit last week with news that the international racing series SailGP will not be returning to Halifax next summer despite its resounding success in June. Tickets for the event sold out in just 12 minutes and more than 50,000 spectators, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, lined the harbour to watch hydrofoiling F50 catamarans slice through the water at speeds of more than 100 km/h. (Great Britain won the two-day event; Team Canada finished sixth after winning the first heat of the competition.)
Sail Nova Scotia, the local sponsor, said 53 percent of ticket holders were from outside the city and local hotels saw a 25 per cent increase in room bookings over the previous year. Final numbers aren’t in, but SailGP reckons its typical two-day event generates a $25.8 million regional economic impact.
The problem for Halifax is that other cities are clamouring to host the races and the fate of the Canadian team is still uncertain. It’s one of five teams owned by the league and in search of private ownership. Frank Denis, executive director of Sail Nova Scotia, told allNovaScotia that the Canadian boat has had some expressions of interest, but nothing firm yet. He’s hopeful the races will return in 2026. So is the league itself.
“SailGP continues to work with its partners in Halifax and is optimistic about a potential return to the city in the future,” said chief operating officer, Julien di Biase. “The incredible welcome the league and the teams received in Halifax was second to none.”
Ferries and shipping news
There was some good news on the water last week when the Ala’suinu, Marine Atlantic’s newest ferry, began service after weeks of delay due to mechanical difficulties. The ship, whose name is Mi’kmaq for “traveller,” will be making the 16-hour crossing from Sydney to Argentia, NL, this summer now that problems with the fuel and the lubrications system are fixed. Earlier delays had led to more than 9,500 trip cancellations in total, and even the inaugural voyage had to be delayed two additional days because crew training hadn’t finished. Hundreds of passengers were re-routed to Port-au-Basques and compensated for their trouble.
Tourism operators were particularly pleased to see the 427 passengers on their way. “I think relief is perhaps a good description,” said Craig Foley, CEO of Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador. “This link is vital to the tourism industry.”
In other shipping news, the first potential builder of Halifax’s planned electric ferries emerged last week. Digby County shipbuilder A.F. Therieault & Son, which built the last five ferries for the city, is partnering with a New Zealand firm to bid on the $259-million project, which includes five high-speed electric ferries, two new net-zero terminals and a maintenance facility. Each vessel will zip 150 to 200 commuters from Bedford to downtown Halifax in 18 minutes, at speeds of 40 km/h, or roughly twice as fast as the current ferries. Boats will leave every 15 minutes during rush hour and take some of the pressure off the road system and the public transit. The city will officially put the project out for bids this fall, with hope the ferries will be on the water by 2027-28.
More power
A Belgian battery company is considering New Brunswick for a new facility to make materials for electric vehicle batteries, according to federal lobbying records examined by allNovaScotia. Ionway is a collaboration between Volkswagen’s battery maker, PowerCo, and global technology and recycling company Umicore. Last year it announced plans for a $2.7-billion plant in Loyalist Township, Ont., with more than $975 million in help from the provincial and federal governments. According to the lobbying records, Canada is “competing with several other countries to win a new manufacturing project for New Brunswick” and the company is discussing “grants, programs and other ideas that can help the project.”
Federal and provincial offices declined to comment specifically on the project, but David Kelly, spokesperson for Opportunities New Brunswick, said there’s been “increased interest from companies in the renewable energy sector.”
Meanwhile, the massive challenge presented by the electricity demands of the future came into clear focus last week on two fronts in Atlantic Canada. In New Brunswick, NB Power announced the Point Lepreau nuclear generating plant could be late returning to service after a three-month maintenance shut down. A problem with the generator was discovered after maintenance was complete and workers tried to bring it back into service. The aging nuclear station has had six planned outages that went longer than expected and suffered budget overruns since 2018, and the costs associated are part of the reason ratepayers are facing potential rate hike for close to 20 percent over the next two years. (A report commissioned by NB Power last year said Point Lepreau has been among the worst performing reactors of its type in the world since 2014.)
And Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro last week confirmed it would need to spend up to $1.6 billion to deal with an expected 16 percent increase in electricity demand over the next decade. Even that, it said, is a conservative estimate that doesn’t include all the potential demand from industrial growth in the mining and hydrogen sectors. Almost half the new growth is expected to come from increasing numbers of electrical vehicles. NL Hydro is hoping to have an eighth unit at the Bay d’Espoir Hydroelectric Generating Station and new combustion turbines at a generating plant that could be converted to use biofuel. It’s also hoping to purchase wind energy from some of the developers working on major green hydrogen and ammonia projects.
Eau baby, we have a winner!
For the second year in row, a city in Atlantic Canada can claim to have the best tasting tap water in North America. Charlottetown won “Best of the Best” in the annual competition at the American Water Works Association conference in Anaheim, California last month, beating out Camden, New Jersey, Sammamish, Washington and 29 other regional champions. “Water is something we all need and having the “Best of the Best” in North America is a title we will carry with pride,” said Councillor Bob Doiron, chair of the city’s Water and Sewer Committee. (Miramichi, New Brunswick, took the title last year.)
A panel of “trained water flavour profilers” judged the water on appearance, mouth feel and overall taste. Mouth feel is mostly about viscosity, or “resistance to flow,” says Richard MacEwan, manager of the city’s Water & Sewage Utility, and less is better by that measure. High marks for taste depend on having no “off flavours” — nothing that tastes musty, or worse, oily.
Charlottetown’s competitive advantage is the province’s sandstone bedrock. The city draws from four groundwater well fields and that bedrock amounts to a giant sand filter system. All P.E.I. tap water is groundwater, “so really it’s a victory for the whole of P.E.I.,” says MacEwan.
Anyone who wants to taste it for themselves will have to travel to the city, though. The province has a ban on exporting groundwater, which keeps the bottled water companies at bay. “We like to tout it, and tell the hotels and tourist operators about it so they can use it as marketing,” says MacEwan. “Just one more reason to come to Charlottetown.”
This newsletter is produced by journalists at PPF Media. It maintains complete editorial independence.