TL;DR — Fishing villages [...] sent into a tailspin by a fishery collapse, oil-price slump and mounting debt that left it with Canada’s most severe fiscal and demographic crisis. The provincial government now is pushing to close places like Little Bay Islands altogether rather than service them, offering [...] at least C$250,000 ($189,000) each to leave—and spurring a bitter, three-year fight over whether to cash out or endure.<p><i>(Actually, the article is not that long, but the title is clickbait)</i><p>I thought the reason was going to be related to the increment of sea levels, as villages near the coasts will surely be affected sooner than later by the constant floods in the coming years. Anyway, I agree with the sentiment of the people mentioned in the article, it is not clear when the Canadian government will pay that money, some people with houses near the coast are retired, they just want to live a peaceful life near the sea, they don't want to relocate, so it is logical to think that this strategy of the government to offer money to leave the place will not work, at least not very well.
The US still can't get the last people to leave Centralia, PA. Centralia has been on fire since 1962. So I think the answer is no. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania</a>
> After appeals were settled, a total of 95 residents received ballots. Ninety percent of them needed to approve the move for it to pass. That’s 86 votes. They got 85.<p>Seems kind of daft to make it all-or-nothing AND set such a high bar. Why weren't the 85 residents who wanted to leave allowed to participate on their own, taking the money and leaving those 10 trolls behind to enjoy living in Nowheresville?
So Newfoundland has been paying to relocate communities since the 1950s.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resettlement_(Newfoundland)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resettlement_(Newfoundland)</a><p>I'm looking through the government's publications to try to understand this better. Does anyone here know if the relocation assistance includes any help relocating the community intact to a new location, or are they simply being paid to dissolve the community and leave? It would be interesting to see these folks all given neighbouring properties in a city so they can hold onto their social capital together.<p><a href="http://www.ma.gov.nl.ca/faq/faq_relocation.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ma.gov.nl.ca/faq/faq_relocation.html</a>
<a href="http://www.ma.gov.nl.ca/publications/relocation/Community%20Relocation%20Policy.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.ma.gov.nl.ca/publications/relocation/Community%20...</a>
You see this on a smaller scale elsewhere in Canada, too. The global economy is changing, and this has a huge effect on small towns across the country. I know of a few towns that are mostly desert now that their main economic engine (either a large manufacturing plant or a mine) has closed down.<p>A few of them are trying to re-center around tourism, but the most successful ones I know are attracting small tech companies. They offer a lot of support, and free / cheap office space, and it seems to work quite well.
If anybody wants to see some dramatic pictures of past resettlement programs in Newfoundland check google images (<a href="https://www.google.ca/search?q=newfoundland+resettlement&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmlvLNzqPPAhVENSYKHYLyB6AQ_AUICCgB&biw=1369&bih=757" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.ca/search?q=newfoundland+resettlement&sou...</a>).<p>I wish I had seen many of these small towns when the fishing industry was thriving. They are beautiful places but they're just a shell of what they used to be. So many abandoned homes, businesses, stages. If you've got FU money there's plenty of cheap oceanview property.
They tried this in the fifties too with the out-harbour communities in Newfoundland like Fogo. Many communities disappeared but Fogo and others stayed and developed something called the <i>Fogo Process</i>.<p>It's sad really. The Marconi Tower is there. Some of the earliest settlements in North America were founded in Newfoundland. It's one of the most beautiful places on Earth to boot.<p>If you visit you can still find traces of the abandoned communities. Most would just float their houses towards the main island. Some were left behind. It makes for an interesting hike.<p>Some people out there love it. Generations going back to the 1700's have made their life on those islands. I think some portion of the population will refuse no matter how much is offered.
I actually live in Toronto and I agree real estate here is expensive.<p>What I don't get is WAY more expensive in places like London, Hong Kong, New York and San Francisco but I don't hear as many complaints or alarms going off in those areas. Why? Is this just me being oblivious?
What, no Newfie jokes?<p>On a more serious note: there's a tectonic shift going on in the US too, it's just not as stark. Young'uns are moving to the cities enmasse, resulting in skyrocketing rents in places like SF, Seattle. The old American Dream of having a McMansion out in the 'burbs has largely died out. Now people prefer the urban areas.
One of my new favorite shows on Vice actually did a show about how abandoned Newfoundland is. They pointed out the over fishing of the area then the government banned fishing outright which started the collapse.<p><a href="https://video.vice.com/en_ca/video/Newfoundland-Coast/57bddb99a39540ed4498faee" rel="nofollow">https://video.vice.com/en_ca/video/Newfoundland-Coast/57bddb...</a>
> <i>While she’s optimistic that the country can build a new economic base, she said it’ll happen only if Canadians “stop over-relying on the extraction of resources or, even worse, selling off our land.”</i><p>This Canadian seems to believe that, in some real or legal sense, the land <i>belongs</i> to her and Canadians in general.<p>But "Canadian land" truly belongs to anyone in the global real estate market with sufficient cash. This is also true in the US.<p>I think people would be better off if they clearly recognized this reality. It isn't "your" country. Let that notion go. It's hurting you. There's no "you" there. Fly. Be free.
And then, there is this <a href="http://www.offgrid-living.com/2016/09/canadian-town-will-give-you-lots-of.html?m=1" rel="nofollow">http://www.offgrid-living.com/2016/09/canadian-town-will-giv...</a>
On the opposite end of Canada, in Vancouver, $250K CAD is enough of a down payment to get a parking spot where you can park a portable kids' play house from Home Depot or Rona, without having to pay mortgage loan insurance.<p>However, in the maritime provinces, with $250K CAD you can actually buy (completely pay for) a fully detached property with a decent house in an urban location.<p>I'd take the money and run while it's there for the taking. They are probably not going to up the offers for those who stubbornly wait it out.
"but the title is clickbait"<p>Almost every Bloomberg title is clickbait [1]. Probably Bloomberg should be flagged for title correction.<p>Perhaps: "Canadian government offering relocation to homeowners from some declining villages"<p>Financial news readers may enjoy Reuters, which has far less irritatingly misleading titles.<p>[1] source: Bloomberg.com