By Katie Cushing
If there can be said to be a quintessentially Canadian province, it’s New Brunswick.
It is, as most people know, Canada’s only bilingual province, but that isn’t what makes it a microcosm of Canada.
No, it’s its people’s conviction that they are boring, and proud of it.
As no less an authority than Frommer’s Canada puts it: "… travelers tend to view New Brunswick as a place you need to drive through — preferably really fast — en route from Quebec or Maine to the rest of Canada."
Amanda Day has the look of a big city girl. With her flamboyant, ever-changing hair, impractical high heels and artfully applied MAC makeup, she tends to draw attention and the comment, "She’s not from around here, is she?"
Day, 27, came to the province via Halifax when her fianceé received a job transfer. Prior to moving to the province, she had only ever visited it once, to go to the indoor amusement park, Crystal Palace, in Moncton.
"I remember thinking there wasn’t much here, that it was pretty much a ‘hick’ place," she said. " I heard quite a few people kind of groan when I said I was moving to Moncton… My general impression has been that people seem to think there’s less here than there is in Halifax."
That being said, Day and her fianceé have since parted ways, and yet she is still sashaying, Sex in the City-like through the streets of Moncton..
"The people here are so amazing," Day said.
There are no cute nicknames for people from New Brunswick: they aren’t Newfies, or Bluenosers. Where other provinces have meaningful or tourism-inspired mottos on their licence plates, like ‘Je me souviens’ or ‘Beautiful British Columbia,’ New Brunswick’s licence plates say… Nothing. That’s right. It’s the only province in Canada that doesn’t have a license plate motto. Even the territories have mottos, for that matter. In New Brunswick, if you are willing to pay extra, you get a picture of a fish. Very few people have pictures of fish on their licenses. Cheapness is something of a defining characteristic of the province as well.
Of course, it’s that very cheapness that draws some people. When Danny Shay and his wife Judy decided to retire from the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto, they bought a house, sight unseen, in Riverview, NB. With the profits from the sale of their Toronto home, they were able to buy a sizable two-story house with a pool in the backyard and begonias out front.
And while Danny had been to Moncton once or twice on business before moving there, Judy’s first look at the city came when she arrived, furniture in tow, to set up her new life.
Prior to that, Judy had been to New Brunswick only once, when she was a teenager, but (surprise, surprise) "just driving through."
"When we first came here, I thought, well everyone‘s really phony," said Danny. "Mind you, I was okay with it… I thought, it was kind of cute. But then after a year or so I realized they weren’t being phony: they were genuinely that nice and happy to meet us."
And while the locals were hard pressed to think of anything when the Shays asked about what they should do in their new home, they say they haven’t been lacking for entertainment. Judy just got back from a Johnny Reed concert, where, she confided with a blush, the woman beside her whipped her panties at the singer. They also can’t say enough about the Fundy coastline, Moncton’s Magnetic Hill and the Acadian culture.
"For anybody looking to retire," Danny said, "this is the ultimate."
"I know what the appeal is of the big city," said Judy. "But you know, when we lived in the city, we never really went outside of our own neighbourhood.
"I can see how young people might want to leave," she said. "But then, young people always want to leave, no matter where they are, don’t they?"
Candice Jay, 24, was one of those young people. Born and raised in Moncton, she moved to Edmonton, Alberta three years ago.
"I always knew I would probably leave," Jay said. "There just aren’t a lot of opportunities here."
Jay has always dreamed of making the big bucks, and that wasn’t going to happen in New Brunswick.
"I was working call centre jobs at $10 per hour and I hated it," she said.
Three years after leaving her hometown, she’s making $32,500 more a year than she made in a good year in Moncton.
"I miss my friends, and my family," Jay said. "And of course, the beach! But I don’t think I’ll ever go back."
People have been leaving New Brunswick for a long time. Point of fact: there are more people in Quebec who are of New Brunswick heritage than there are people in New Brunswick. Out west, in Alberta and British Columbia, it often seems like you can’t swing a stick without hitting someone from New Brunswick. The oil fields, of course, are full of them, but then, so are the restaurants, the construction sites and the logging camps.
There are even famous people from New Brunswick. A few of them are so famous that people have actually heard of them.
Robb Wells, who played Ricky in The Trailer Park Boys, was born in Moncton. Actor Donald Sutherland, dad to Kiefer, was born in Saint John. Roch Voisine is from Edmunston, and Anne Murray, although born in Nova Scotia, went to university in New Brunswick.
Of course, it should also noted that none of these famous people currently live in New Brunswick. Fame and NB would seem to be somewhat diametrically opposed.
But then, that’s the way the locals like it.
Some stats about New Brunswick:
Population: 748,319 (2009)
Size of province: 72,908 km2
English: 64.83%
French: 32.61%
Things to do:
Champlain Place, Moncton (largest mall, east of Montreal)
Payee de Seguin
Hopewell Rocks
Magnetic Hill
Parlee Beach, Shediac
World's Longest Covered Bridge, Hartland
