According Statscan the population of NS is shrinking, which is not news. But, what is news is that this is actually all that bad or something to be reversed. Our province has the second HIGHEST population density in Canada at 17.4 people per square km, behind only PEI (tiny speck of a province 24.7). Why politicians and anyone would think we could jump start the province's economy with land (i.e. provincial) resources are out of their mathematical/economic mind. This is just one of the reasons why things are expensive here - 17.4 population density and no opportunity for land environmental exploitation (which, really does pay big bucks). Ocean - of course, belongs to the feds.

You know who does have room for growth? Alberta (5.7 people/km^2) and Saskatchewan (1.8 people/km^2) and the northern territories - tons of unexploited SPACE, tons of land area and low human population densities. These places have room to grow be it in terms of environmental exploitation or just pure human population growth. A leveling off in here at home because of population/economic carrying capacity should not surprise us. That's the price of living in a small province, in a young country. You don't grow when there's no room to grow. But, you know what you can do - relax! And be content that you live in a province with a small land mass that is relatively stable for the moment. —Loving the assymptote - hating the "G" word.