By Brian Lee
At the risk of being labelled "a glass is half full" kind of guy, I’m going to step out on an alder limb and say the worst is behind us.
It's because there are a few cautious signals that things are picking up on the Coast. I know it’s possible that, after six years of pay cuts, my observation is distorted by the prism of lowered expectations. If that’s so, it’s also forced me to accept a few things.
Like many, I recognize clearly the pattern of seasonality that is to be the future for our area. To that I’m reluctantly resigned. For instance, I’m barely fazed by the fact that this issue contains the fewest number of pages I’ve ever sent off to be printed. But now, confident in the pattern of local commerce, I know the number of pages will rise in direct proportion to the angle of the sun’s arc.
I take a little comfort in knowing my business isn’t the only one to run lean during the winter. Machine operators, retail stores, restaurants — we all have learned to accommodate the precipitous decline in winter business. That may never change.
So what fuels my spurt of optimism? Well, first of all, if you’re reading this, you have survived one of the hardest economic periods in living memory. In Darwinian terms, you are "fit."
And while others may have moved on, you have managed to cling to one of the nicest places to live (according to a Harbour Spiel readers poll) in all of North America. It doesn’t have Fort McMurray’s employment rate but our lungs don’t hurt when we breathe either. If our community was a stock, analysts would describe it as having "value" — we’ve been battered but our fundamentals are still sound.
And things are looking up. I’ve heard rumours about some realtors calling 2013 the best in half a dozen years for home sales. The recent turnover in ownership of a few local businesses promises to inject some fresh enthusiasm into our micro-economy. And though I haven’t heard of Apple or Amazon shortlisting Kleindale as a site for their new international headquarters, I have received an unusual number of calls from new business people moving to the area. For the most part, they are small but they decided to move here.
Don’t go out and buy the Land Rover just yet because if things are turning around — if we’ve finally hit the bottom — then it means we’re still at the bottom. But at least we have something that seemed to all but evaporate in the last few years — hope.
It’s February, spring is right around the corner and this summer will be the busiest ever. We have improved and improving water systems, limitless recreation opportunity, excellent healthcare infrastructure and still plenty of industrial potential. People are quietly moving here and they are going to want your house and you will sell it to them for more than you paid.
You will get more work. Our schools will grow. It’s not over yet.
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