Dependence
on resources like fishing, trees and tourism, historically have a seasonal
character, which together with fluctuating markets and other factors, keep
disposable incomes low.
The
attraction of stable, high paying jobs whether in Fort McMurray or elsewhere is
impossible to ignore.
Rural
communities are not just in decline, they are being gutted. Rural NL is under threat, less now from
unemployment than from labour mobility and competition for skills, from
elsewhere.
Mega
projects have an irresistible allure, the modest janitor can now lay claim to a
six figure income out West. Fishing boats, at home, can’t attract share
men. Two paper mills have shuttered, a
third hangs on, barely.
Fish
processing, the almost singular source of employment for graying fisher people,
too old to do the bi-weekly flight to Fort McMurray, find China a worthy if
unequal competitor. If these fisher people feel forgotten, who could blame
them?
