***** IDENTIFYING OUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES******
Every day I hear or read about the problems facing our communities in Shelburne County. The decline of the fishery, closure of military bases, boys school and other federal and provincial facilities, the drift of younger populations to larger urban centres and other areas of the country the reduced activity at our community college, closure of hospital facilities and services and declining tourism are good examples.
This litany of depressing developments is true. Denying them solves no problems. Neither does focusing on them and ignoring the opportunities presented by the things we do have and the new opportunities that arrive daily.
This morning I want to re-launch this blog in a new direction..... I want to start discussing the half of the glass that is full!
And soooo.... let's start with Shelburne's natural geographic phenomena and the resultant advantages I can name .... right off the top of my head.....
And dear reader, I would ask you to join me as we begin this exciting journey to explore the natural advantages we have in Shelburne County.
OVERVIEW OF LOCATION ADVANTAGES
1. Location - Our geographic location places us on the edge of the North American seaboard with close proximity to the United States and its market of some 360 million people. It also places us closer to the Caribbean and the Atlantic Side of Central and South America than any other jurisdiction in Canada. Our location also favours us as a shipping centre for cargo destined for Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.
Our weather patterns are milder in Winter than most of Canada and our location results in diminished threats from hurricanes. Eastern Shelburne County has one of the highest winter solar irradiance levels in North America and the entire county benefits from ice free conditions in most of our harbours. For all intents and purposes our location far from the mid-atlantic ridge and relatively low incidence of earthquakes also means that our risk from tsunamis is low.
Our proximity to the natural gas and oil deposits off the east coast of Nova Scotia gives us a preferred position to service that industrial development and our location next to George's Bank and the Bay of Fundy generate significant fisheries opportunities.
In like manner, our proximity to a population base of some 50 million within 500 miles of Shelburne County favours us as a natural area for development of our tourism indusry.
Got any additional suggestions as to why our physical location favours Shelburne County? Send them in as comments and I will add them to our inventory of the things that make our glass half full.
