“We are not your grandmother’s Atlantic Canada anymore,” said Frank McKenna during his keynote address at this year’s Atlantic Business Summit. “The Atlantic Canada of today is not the same place of ten years ago or twenty years ago.

 It has dramatically improved on every single scale.” 

Let’s consider his statement:  unemployment rates have fallen significantly over the past decade; health care, transportation and education infrastructure have benefited from significant investment;   provincial governments have improved balance sheets and cash flows that are the envy of central Canada. 

McKenna’s right.  Yet, despite this, the success stories of the East Coast often go unheard by the rest of Canada – and the Atlantic Canadian expats who live there. 

Earlier this spring, when the front page of the Toronto Star announced that Newfoundland would be off equalization by 2009 and that Ontario was ever so close to slipping into “have not” status, the reaction amongst expats in Toronto was a complex mix of shock and pride.

To appreciate why, we need to understand what happens when someone moves away from Atlantic Canada.  In the short term, the expat remains in close contact with friends, family and former colleagues but, over time, new local relationships are forged.   Their “information pipeline” home narrows, focusing on the personal lives of loved ones rather than the broader context of their home communities.

Where are we left?  Expats are often largely unengaged in and uninformed about the opportunities contemporary Atlantic Canada presents.  They are left with an image of home frozen in a moment of time gone by.

This is nothing new, but it is more important to address now than at any point in Atlantic Canada’s history. 

There is a demographic shift underway.   By 2031, the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council says there will be 671,000 East Coast residents over the age of 65 — almost double current levels — while the number of people aged 40-49 will decline by 80,000 people.  The decline of the middle-aged population has frightening consequences for our coffers, productivity and culture.

We’re already seeing the early signs.  When Danny Williams announced the Hebron deal in late August, it provided that some of the work might be done outside of the province.  Williams defended the inclusion of the clauses saying, “You can’t work above 100 hundred percent capacity.”

Now more than ever we need to reach out to those who have left Atlantic Canada, especially those who moved away because they believed there was a lack of opportunity.  That has changed – now we need to get the message out and expats need to be the focal point of the initiative.

Expats have been casual cultural ambassadors for years, but this is not enough anymore.  Public and private leaders must leverage their entire social and business networks, spreading the word that the East Coast is about entrepreneurialism and opportunity – that this is not your grandmother’s Atlantic Canada anymore.

Chris Crowell was born and raised in Dartmouth, N.S., but has lived in Toronto for the past six years. He is the founder and president of East Coast Connected (www.eastcoastconnected.ca), a not-for-profit, community-hub venture for expats living in Toronto that keeps them engaged in the current affairs of Atlantic Canada.