Released:September 30, 2024
Project: Atlantic Initiative
Executive Summary
This year’s Atlantic Canada Momentum Index offers evidence of a region at a critical juncture. The strong momentum outlined in last year’s index has slowed as the region struggles to adapt to the challenges that come with boom times and unprecedented population growth. Momentum remains positive, but it is more tentative now. Of the 25 indicators chosen for this study, 15 exhibit momentum (60 percent), down from the year before, when 16 of 20 indicators (80 percent) showed momentum.
Relative to Canada as a whole, where 17 of 25 indicators exhibit momentum, the region is lagging slightly. The driver of this weaker performance is slower
economic growth; although still showing momentum in Atlantic Canada, it was stronger in the rest of the country.
Worryingly, the exceptional sense of belonging that has been a point of pride and advantage for the region declined sharply in this year’s index, though it still stands higher than the national average. Some pressing challenges, such as housing and health care, are significant but not unique to the region.
The index still shows considerable points of strength, including population, median age, employment and labour productivity. But to ensure that momentum continues — and is not a post-pandemic blip in a bleaker historic trend — a concerted and co-ordinated effort to better spur and manage growth is needed.
About the Authors
Stephen Maher has been writing about Canadian politics since 1989, including as a columnist and investigative reporter for the Chronicle Herald, Postmedia News, iPolitics and Maclean’s. He has won many awards, including the Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, the Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism, the National Newspaper Award, two Canadian Association of Journalism Awards and a Canadian Hillman Prize. He is the author of three novels and The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau. He has lived in worked in three Atlantic provinces and currently resides on the South Shore of Nova Scotia.
Born in New Brunswick, Andrew Sharpe is founder and Executive Director of the Ottawa-based Centre for the Study of Living Standards (CSLS). Established in 1995, CSLS is a national, independent, nonprofit research organization whose main objective is to study trends and determinants of productivity, living standards and economic wellbeing. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D in economics from McGill University, a maitrise in urban geography from the Université de Paris-Sorbonne, and a B.A. from the University of Toronto.