Atlantic Canada's Urban Growth Agenda - Greater Halifax Partnership

• The need for specific issues-based governance.
Another potential opportunity for Atlantic Canada’s urban areas is to consider specific issues-based governance
for pan-Atlantic Canadian activities. This may be a way, in certain cases, to solve the lack of critical mass and to
limit the need for forced amalgamations. There are many local examples of this in Atlantic Canada already
including: regional planning commissions, regional economic development agencies, and regional waste
facilities.
• The need to focus on urban immigration.
Atlantic Canadian urban areas should work together to formulate a co-ordinated approach to urban immigration
with agreed objectives over time.
• The need to focus on urban investment.
Atlantic Canadian urban areas have not been able to attract significant private-sector investment in recent years
compared to Canada’s largest urban centres. Urban regions all across North America have been the primary
drivers of economic growth for more than a century. Atlantic Canada’s urban areas need to be the primary
engines of growth in the region. They also need to be a realistic alternative for private-sector investment
compared to the major urban centres in Canada. Through the 1990s, the vast majority of private-sector
investment went into the top 4-5 urban centres in Canada. In the U.S., by contrast, areas such as Alabama,
Georgia, South Carolina and Arizona led the country for investment attraction. This forced the traditional
economic hubs such as New York, Michigan and Illinois to reduce red tape and become more supportive of
economic development leading to the benefit of the whole country. In the longer term, Canada would also
benefit from a broader distribution of private-sector investment and stronger regional economies.
Atlantic Canada’s urban areas should work together to raise the region’s visibility, tackle access issues, and
work with the provincial and federal government to address the issue of economic development incentives.
Gaining better access to existing federal programs - for example, Technology Partnerships Canada - is one way
to approach this.
Potential Action Steps
• Clearly define Atlantic Canada’s ‘acute’ urban issues.
While national urban challenges also apply to Atlantic Canada’s urban areas, there are others that deserve
consideration:
o Proactive economic development/investment attraction
o Better immigration policy linked to regional growth strategies
o Better co-ordination of urban activity between Atlantic Canadian cities
o The need for more research and development activity
o Inter-city transportation infrastructure
• Establish formal research related to Atlantic Canada’s urban areas.
The interviewees for this report feel that there is a lack of good research into Atlantic Canada’s urban areas, their
specific challenges and the unique urban-rural dynamic in the region. There is a significant amount of urbanrelated
research being conducted in other parts of Canada and a similar effort here would provide the context for
needed policy making tailored to the region.
• Develop a common voice.
Because of the many common challenges facing Atlantic Canadian urban centres, they should work collectively
to put forward a common voice related to the national urban agenda.
…Atlantic Canadian Context vii