We're number 196, MoneySense says

Former Res

- March 25, 2013 at 08:41:35

First of all the, some of the key data MoneySense uses for the ratings are number of crimes, severity of crimes, ratio of doctors per 1000 population, cost of housing etc. Having lived in New Glasgow as well as small towns and cities in other provinces I can tell you that the cost of housing is much higher than it is in other maritime towns of the same size and cities that are ten times larger. And secondly, the data can fluctate from year to year as a result of higher or lower unemployment, average income, number of crimes. If New Glasgow has 2 murders in one year do you not think that has a big impact on the data? Do you think sending postcards will impact the rating? New Glasgow is a lovely little town but lets not assume it has anything more than any other little town in Canada has and that it rightly deserves a better rating. Maybe New Glasgow needs to concentrate on the high crime rate and high cost of housing. It appears an effort has been made to improve the ratio of doctors to population. Just sayin.

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Margaret w.

- March 20, 2013 at 20:57:52

Lets not forget how one empires greed has contributed to the destruction of the middle class here in Pictou county;how independent business has become historical ,how elected officials and municipal wannabes pander and scamper after certain families like lap dogs begging for a treat.Pictou county has become a place to be ashamed of,and that is within the last 8-10 years.We all know who the culprits are-the corruption is just too ingrained now.I am very sad that this has happened to our once proud area.

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NG dweller

- March 20, 2013 at 20:51:41

want to improve in the rankings...amalgamate this place. every week a business closes, the NG downtown is poor at best w/ no parking or access and no attention to the core the list goes on.. we need to cooperate as a regions to attract business and improve our quality of life...amalgamation is the starting point

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demographics

- March 20, 2013 at 17:52:51

The ranking isn't just for the Town of New Glasgow (the municipality). They are using the census agglomeration area, which is named after the largest municipality in it (New Glasgow) but includes most of Pictou County. So we can all cheer because we're all in this together.

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Shane MacMillan

- March 20, 2013 at 17:44:11

I would like to point out to anyone who didn't bother to read the moneysense article, that some of the factors for this ranking include: the amount of rain we get, how many days above 0 C there are per year, how many of us bike/walk to work and how many new cars are on the our roads. Not exactly a fair way to rank towns and cities spread over 10 million square kms. I would venture to say 196th out of the 1000's of towns there must be in Canada isn't so bad. Canada's population is 33 million people. Pictou County as 43,000. To compare us to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, or even Mocton and Halifax is a joke. End Rant

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Spoonman

- March 20, 2013 at 17:40:20

Actually we declined a couple of spots while more places were added to the list. Hey congrates MS Dixon on shining a Turd again so brilliantly this year. I don't know were we would be as a community with 9400 residents if we did not have a PR person and a couple of Assistants for that vital function. Shining Turds must be a labor intensive thing. Wonder what happened with Summerside ? Moneysense caught wind of the Mayor getting Scammed on a Michael Jackson tribute concert ? Gee hopefully Moneysense does not know about the annual drunk fest named the Jubilee .

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Captain Obvious

- March 20, 2013 at 16:42:05

It is a great place to live if you work in the town office with a do nothing job and making $130,000 a year, funnelling money to your buddies and never having to pay for groceries because all your meetings are scheduled at breakfast, lunch and supper times. Spending $370,000 a year on computers to collect tax from 9,600 people is scandalous but at the end of the day no one really cares about the fat.

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Mr Bright side

- March 20, 2013 at 14:44:12

WOW!!! - were moving in the right direction!! - nothing but sunshine from here on out!!!

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hugh

- March 20, 2013 at 14:44:01

showing off the cougar didn't help. you look like a bunch of rednecks.

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Mark

- March 20, 2013 at 14:29:22

Yes, because dumping money into developing, advertising and distributing postcards to advertise primarily New Glasgow (rather than the county), rather than putting that money into improving the county - and thereby it's rating - will certainly encourage MoneySense to distort the facts in the favor of the community. If anything, they likely see the response and think "Well, it's good to see people attempting to show pride in their community, but with so many businesses shutting down, the high gas prices, tax rates, shutting down of multiple schools, high crime rates, drug abuse and unemployment what are they doing to directly -improve- their community?" Certainly flaunting a "free" tank (but don't call it a tank because they removed the weapons) that'll primarily only be used for parades & the like ("look how much better our police are than yours!") won't help change the facts that have lead to their determination. It certainly isn't about to intimidate drug dealers, thieves, etc as the town dumps taxpayer money into it for upkeep and gas. And all the flower awards and trips for the town councilors to take to brag about the awards & flowers (at the taxpayer expense) certainly won't ultimately improve the lifestyle of the people of this county. Flowers are a luxury. And then there is the routinely poorly kept roads and the lack of a mass transit system (which plenty have continually expressed a desire & need for for years - contrary to the what the town councils make claim of or will even consider) that, with the ever-increasing prices of fuel, is needed more than ever by so many in our community with the lack of employment and the ever-growing push towards creating jobs that provide only minimum wage or barely above. And then comes the "Wellness Centre", which is all well and good, but is it a necessity? MoneySense has pointed out many of the deficiencies in the community and what are we doing to improve it? Yes, we're working very hard to plant flowers, bring in military grade vehicles, high-tech expensive police vehicles and a "Wellness Centre" that, though, can be helpful, wasn't necessarily a -need- in comparison to the things that our community has been losing. We're losing businesses - especially in the industrial fields - that provide much-need employment and schools that are imperative to providing the children with proper education (which, in turn, will result in people moving away & lessening of employment and ability to gain employment). We're being encouraged & pushed to take up "careers" at, sadly, some of our biggest employers - fast food and Convergys. Both of which strive to provide minimum income or close to it, and the latter of which provides a very high-stress environment for most that work there (speaking from prior experience). Our local NSCC provides plenty of training for various trades, but the majority of the businesses within our community that provide employment for these very trades routinely turn away recent grads - pushing them to go out west because these companies don't want to put in the time of effort to bring them up to speed .. And when the youth is pushed away to get that experience, and ultimately make vastly more starting out than our local businesses will even consider providing in wages, where is the incentive for them to return? Coming home to a job that'll pay far less (and possibly expect much more) and an underlying attitude that the youth isn't as capable -because- they are young, isn't much incentive. Our local governments & the community itself need to make a strong push against being offended by the results of MoneySense and an even stronger push in rethinking the job industries that are being encouraged to make their homes in our community and the attitudes towards the youth that the existing ones already have. Our community needs a drastic change in attitude and outlook and a far better embracing of today's social technology. No offense at all to our seniors, but overall, our community is increasingly being being catered towards seniors and more & more against our youth - contrary to what our town councils plead for when they exclaim that they can't understand why so many of our youth leave and don't return. When more & more housing complexes throughout our community continually crop up that always specify "seniors only" and the higher paying, trade employers rigorously hold to the attitude of "Go somewhere else for experience because you're fresh out of college or too young" it's no wonder we lose the youth - and ultimately, no wonder we've come to rank so low. Employers: Get with the times. Embrace the youth and help your community to truly grow. It'll come at little cost and great gain. Town Councils: You're stubborn. Most of you have been in places for years, many even decades. We get it. But it's time you stopped discrediting or even turning a blind eye to the youth (and yes, this even means the teens). And it's time to embrace social networking. Realize that isn't just people in positions of authority (school boards, town councils, business heads, etc) that can present contributions that will better improve all aspects of our community. It's time to accept that people from all walks of life within our community are -part- of this community and therefore can make it better, given the chance. Let's work on unifying as a whole, use today's social technology and centralize for us all to regain a sense of community and worth. And then we'll rise in the ranks.

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• 

  Funny Guy

  - March 21, 2013 at 12:28:59

  Thanks for the novella Mark.

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  andy

  - March 22, 2013 at 11:39:16

  so based on everything you said this is what I took out of it: focusing on youth and embracing social networking will move us on up to the big leagues.

Spoonman

- March 20, 2013 at 14:05:24

Well hey all the postcard campaigns in the world can never cover up the fact that the Town Hall's PR person is trying to shine a turd. And just how much did we spend on a post card effort ? Funny how the NG Mayor would blame the rest of the county and other towns for the poor rankings one year but then want to include Stellartons NSCC campus as a New Glasgow Asset in this report. Frankly we need to cut out the useless fat at Town Hall starting spin doctors who actually pay attention to this stuff while over 25 businesses have left or ceased operations in New Glasgow since the big Provost Street Disaster.

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Wm. Ferguson

- March 20, 2013 at 14:00:08

Yes New Glasgow is a great place to live, but not for young people opportunites are limited and job prospects are nil. The jobs do stop here! Money Sense has it right when it concerns the economy.

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Irene

- March 20, 2013 at 13:56:51

guess the post cards were like new glasgow's placing,next to Insufficent Postage ,Return to Sender!

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jason

- March 20, 2013 at 13:45:16

another couple of of tanks, and hey, ya never know....... 190 maybe.

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lifetime local

- March 20, 2013 at 13:40:22

Instead of writing postcards to moneysense telling them why this is a good place to live, why not create change and prove it to them?

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woooooo

- March 20, 2013 at 13:27:43

Wooooo all my postcards I sent paid off!.

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Ryan

- March 20, 2013 at 12:54:12

are you daft? THIS IS A HORRIBLE PLACE TO LIVE! We just lost 3 or 4 business lost over 100 jobs in 2 months, and you still want to say this is a WONDERFUL place to live? What a frigging joke, our mayor is a joke, the town councils are a joke all of it, they only care about their own agendas and nothing about the well being of their citizens.

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johnny smoke

- March 20, 2013 at 12:41:01

Congrats all around now we are 196 out of 200. It is amazing what a .72 cent stamp will accomplish is it not? I would have thought that having a cougar armored vehicle would have accounted for something but nay, not even a mention in the ratings. I would have thought that there would be a separate column for that item alone. My guess is that the quick removal of all the for rent and vacancy signs in the shop windows downtown paid a large part in the up grade, as well the rating team was kept well away from the obstacle course in Stellarton that is presently being used as a main roadway But still not being dead last is something to be celebrated so I will say again magnanimously how much did this really cost us? Does it really change anything? Curious minds want to know.

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Chareth

- March 20, 2013 at 11:57:46

But we are first on the list of places to live for those that like to write post cards!

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Johnny M

- March 20, 2013 at 11:29:05

You mean sending post cards didn't help?!?!?!?!? Did they not know we have a cougar? how can this be?!?!?

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That Guy

- March 20, 2013 at 11:27:41

So for all intensive purposes, last place. Not surprised. Flowers aren't helping when there are no jobs, etc etc.

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  Lee

  - March 20, 2013 at 15:12:44

  I believe you mean "for all intents and purposes"

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  educator

  - March 20, 2013 at 17:09:40

  intents and purposes. No wonder we are 196.

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  treat yourself

  - March 22, 2013 at 05:24:26

  yeah spelling aint rocket appliances

Frank Rizzo

- March 20, 2013 at 11:01:08

Oh well, at least we are ahead of 3 ghost towns in Northern Quebec and Summerside PEI.... LOL! We are #1 for cancer and pollution though... so it is good that we are #1 for something.

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