When it comes to population growth in Saint John is there enough urgency and fire underneath us?
That question was posed by mayor Don Darling, who doesn’t believe there is.
The census data from 2016 shows that Saint John’s population shrunk by 3.6-percent from 2011 to 2016 to about 67-thousand and five-hundred people.
Awesome three ship day. Thank you @PortSaintJohn & @VisitSaintJohn. Let’s all be Ambassadors today. pic.twitter.com/Ay6LzHMksV
— Don Darling (@dondarlingSJ) September 13, 2017
Mayor Don Darling tells us each of those lost people will cost the city of Saint John in the range of five-thousand-dollars.
Darling says this is high stakes.
He says growing our city is not optional and he’s not trying to meddle in the specifics but he won’t let up on the need to grow our population.
The city has hired a population growth manager, Alex MacKinnon, who is working on developing a population growth framework.
