The Reality

A travel writer for a large American daily newspaper began his description of his visit to New Brunswick with the following sentence: "New Brunswick is an hour ahead of Washington, D.C., but it's more important to adjust your calendar than your watch. At the beep, the time will be 1959." He went on to say that New Brunswick "...seems perfect. But something is off. It's too colorful. Clearly, New Brunswick should be in black and white. This is the Fred MacMurray of provinces, the Saturday matinee of destinations."

His reference to clocks alludes to the fact that like the rest of the Maritimes, New Brunswick is in the Atlantic Time zone which is one hour ahead of the Eastern Time zone. His reference to the calendar is not as easy to explain. In many ways New Brunswick is frozen in time.

In fact, history in this province seeps out of every pore something countless tourists have discovered over the years. It's charming of course, but it obscures the fact that New Brunswick also has much to offer the permanent resident. On the one hand the quaintness of the place results in an environment, which although not perfect, tends to be less stressful and more laid-back. On the other hand New Brunswick has an infrastructure which might surprise you.

To begin with, government in New Brunswick is modern and efficient in part because of some wise choices that were made in the latter part of the previous century. In addition, transportation and communications have more than kept pace with our technological society. In transportation alone, New Brunswick's major centers, Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton boast modern state-of-the-art airports. Though small by most standards, they are contemporary, neat and efficient. Bathurst and vicinity is also served by it's own airport.

New Brunswick is served by a network of broad, safe, four-lane limited-access highways along with high quality secondary roads virtually all of them paved. The city of Saint John features a large harbour which though under-utilized as a commercial port annually draws as many as 100 large cruise ships. Highway access to the United States via the State of Maine is primarily through two main border crossings, one in Woodstock NB / Houlton ME and the other at St. Stephen NB / Calais ME. This latter one is currently being upgraded and enlarged.

In communications, New Brunswick's telecommunications network which is part of the maritime-wide Aliant® system, is highly developed. Telephone service is of course available virtually everywhere but what's more important, high-speed ADSL internet access is also widely available. This is especially useful if your income is going to depend on good Internet access.

In New Brunswick, electricity is provided by NB Power, a partnership between the provincial government and private enterprise. Like some other power suppliers, notably in Ontario, NB Power has had some problems such as a failed contract with Venuzuela for fuel supply. Nevertheless, compared to utilities elsewhere in the maritimes, service is generally very reliable with few interruptions even during major storms.

So you want to become rich
Although some folks do achieve wealth in the maritimes, the simple truth is that, as in the rest of Canada, most people here are quite content to be "comfortable". Realistically then, if you're looking to become the next Warren Buffett or Bill Gates that may be easier to accomplish elsewhere. On the other hand, costs here of such things as real estate, are a bit more moderate so even with a modest income, becoming comfortable might be easier to achieve.

This content was written by Henry (Hank) Mulder. Born in the Netherlands, Henry lived in several provinces before settling in New Brunswick.