Yes, the Delusional Calgaria campaign to get Nova Scotians back home is cute and funny. Yes, Nova Scotians have a good sense of humour, a great lifestyle, cheaper rentals, smaller traffic jams and a kinder gentler pace of life.
But the cute campaign by Rodney MacDonald's Nova Scotia government misses the point. It confuses the build-it-and-they-will-come philosophy with a build-a-website-and-make-everyone-think-they-will-come approach.
Sure the cute campaign is getting publicity. But to what end? What, Rodney, do you suppose all these ex-pat Nova Scotians are going to come back to? Jobs in call centres? Retail? Fast food? Perhaps they can work on Delusional Calgaria websites.
The Delusional Calgaria campaign doesn't insult Calgary or Calgarians. It insults the battery Nova Scotians who left - often against their will - to pursue work and opportunities.
Most of them didn't want to abandon all the great things in Nova Scotia. They left to get good paying jobs and to get them quickly so they can pay off student debt among other things. They left for an enterprise culture that will produce opportunities and skills, the things they need to build their future.
If anyone looks delusional here, it is the government of Nova Scotia for making such a ludicrous pitch. If you build it, they will come. But if you just say it, they will not. And who could blame them?
28 March 2007
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3 comments:
I left NS in Jan.'93 because I couldn't find gainful employment. 14 yrs. later and I still haven't seen anything to lure me back.
In both northern BC and Alberta all there is, are Newfies and Nova Scotians (slight exaggeration).
Unless something changes, they won't be coming home. It's good for the airlines though.
That's why this campaign is so moronic. It's conceived as answer to the question "So what are you doing to improve the economy?" And they direct you to their fancy pansy website.
As you said, if they actually improved the economy by having a vision and taking some leadership, people like you would come
going to Calgary has turned to an epidemic, but there are reasons behind epidemics, and unless they are addressed you won't stop it. Before telling others to come back, they have to make sure, next stream of engineers/cs students won't leave. They can do this by empowering coop's and somehow increasing the entry level jobs.
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