There was a really great article in today’s Telegraph-Journal on the widening of the Mackay Highway, and I would recommend everyone take a moment to check it out:
Mayor Ivan Court has a point in questioning the widening of the Mackay Highway to make it easier for Kennebecasis Valley residents to get back and forth to their jobs in Saint John.
Oldtime Saint Johners, packing their lunch boxes to work in the factories that gave the port city its gritty manufacturing base, used to scoff at “the swells” who chose to live in suburban Rothesay, while making their living in Saint John.
When I started work in the 1940s, workers from outside the city had to pay a “poll tax” to offset the fact they were enjoying job benefits in the city without paying city taxes. Of course, people have a right to live where they choose, and the poll tax was abolished with Premier Louis Robichaud’s Program of Equal Opportunity in the 1960s.
Why do so many people choose to live in the suburbs? It’s cheaper, it’s prettier, the weather is better, further from the sea that brings so much summer fog. In recent years, there has been an almost explosive exodus to the valley communities. The dual-lane suburban growth area people drive through now bears little resemblance to the quaint suburbia of yesteryear.
But the basic fact remains.
Saint John, with its dwindling population base, is still the economic engine of the area. And suburbanites – who use the city’s roads, water and other infrastructure in their daily job visits – aren’t the ones who are paying the freight to keep it up.
I’m all for better and safer highway systems. But Court makes the point that creating extra lanes to make it easier for suburban commuters to get in and out of Saint John also adds to the city’s own traffic and parking problems.
The popularity of suburban living has brought dramatic growth to the valley. Their levels of government have expanded, they have their own shopping centres, schools, theatres, recreation facilities. They’ve become largely self-sufficient communities. Except for the one essential element.
They come to work in Saint John.
Now more people live in the burgeoning outskirts than live in the shrinking city. And an element of unfairness can be seen in the fact that a majority can take advantage of what the city has to offer, while a minority is stuck with the cost of its upkeep.
I’ve heard suggestions that people would move to the city if it were managed better. That might be a factor, but it’s not that simple. The exodus has been going on for many years, eroding the city’s tax base and providing less revenue to get things done.
Today is the feast of St. John the Baptist, which is why explorers Champlain and de Monts decided to call the place they discovered Saint John. We can bicker about choice and fairness in cost-sharing. I’ve seen this argument going on all my life.
It has always been a sore point, for example, when people can occupy good Saint John municipal jobs – in the fire, police or works departments – yet choose to live in the suburbs – where their taxes aren’t contributing to their city salaries. That’s seen as someone else’s problem, while Saint John’s tax base continues to shrink as more people move to the valley.
We need more consultation and co-operation. But from what I’ve seen developing over the years, we’re ultimately going to have to face a full and fair solution. Saint John is Canada’s oldest incorporated city. It needs to be able to compete with Moncton and other expanding cities.
The word “amalgamation” scares those with vested interests in their own piece of the pie. But Greater Saint John shares a community of interests. We need to explore innovative ways of sharing the load.
You don’t solve a problem by ignoring it.
Fred Hazel is a retired editor-in-chief of this newspaper. His column appears on Thursdays.
