The finalists in the federal government’s Smart Cities Challenge have been selected, but Saint John isn’t one of them.
Population decline was the focus of their application as they vied for one of two $10-million prizes.
Mayor Don Darling says he’s disappointed, partly because the city’s team did an amazing amount of work.
“I did worry that population growth maybe wouldn’t be as differentiated as maybe some other projects,” says Darling. “But it’s one of those things, you know, do you go all in for what matters most to you or do you go for the safe project.”
Today at #FCM2018AC, the 20 #smartcitiesCanada Challenge finalists were unveiled, each receiving a $250K grant to further develop their innovative ideas into final proposals. https://t.co/xTvE3oEMDc #CDNmuni pic.twitter.com/LzeqFkCgYb
— CanadianPM (@CanadianPM) June 1, 2018
But Darling says they’ll still move ahead with plans to address population decline, even without the money, because population growth has plagued this city for many decades and there’s a lot at stake.
He says they’ll also have a chance to work with Fredericton and St. Mary’s First Nation, which are one of the 20 finalists.
“We did have an agreement amongst the three cities [Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton] that whoever wasn’t successful, they would team up with the other cities to work on their projects,” says Darling.
