I too originally visited this area on vacation several times before we made the decision to locate permanently here.

Cape Briton has continued to lose industry over the resultant time since you were here. A large paper mill is closing up this year for example. Where we reside is neither growing or declining. New bruinswick next door seems to be more progressive curently.

This area was poor until transfer payments were initiated perhaps 40 years ago. This is where wealthier provinces contributed to poorer ones. That policy worked well up till now in my opinion. Now some of the wealthier provinces are complaining our populations are far better off than theirs.

I was suprised by many things when we arrived here. People did not have morgages generally on their homes. Rent to buy with no interest was the convention if you did not have enough cash apparently. Property and homes were dirt cheap. No real estate companies for all practical purposes existed to distort the local market. It was just local convention to save a good portion of your income. There was so much less government and self interested commercial intervention than in central Canada it was a different world. The strangest thing to me was there was just no immigration to here then and now. Although in recent years we do import mexican nationals temporarily to do a lot of jobs that cannot be filled locally.

The man manipulated devices of so called progress where just not here then either. They are getting here now in spades and are wrecking a good previous system . Fortunatly we still have no pressures in comparison to what the larger canadian cities have to bear now.

In my opinion formed over time the local population does not generally use credit and most have sizable liquidity in comparison to most canadians.. I attribute this to most locals not living at or anywhere near the level of their incomes. This may no longer apply to the youngest generation just getting started in life locally. The traps we tend to and have engineered into our systems with time are going to take their toll on them..

This area is certainly not utopia but is somewhat unique in north america in my opinion. Maine to the south of us is now much poorer in comparison. An american is in the process of investing about ten million locally in the last few weeks. Not a lot of money by any stretch today. Still he must have seen something he liked here. We understand it is to be a large chicken producing enterprise with a decent airstrip. He paid 3.1 million for the basic land we understand. The buildings are now being errected.

I think a larger percentage of our older canadians spend their winters in the south now than any other part of Canada on a per capita basis. We cannot get away ourselves because of other commitments that require our local presence. Other than a week or two at best and even that is difficult. Retirement age seems to also be declining rapidly. Most are off the treadmill at sixty and many at even earlier ages.

Remember no health care costs or coverages to be concerned about. Minumin retirement income is higher than absolutly needed locally.Retired people get the same pension dollars as in the far more expensive areas of Canada. Property taxes and insurances are not bad but tending to be forced and manipulated upwards now. The people in general still remain friendly and there is a broad form of the sense of community present.