Newfoundlanders who fled cod moratorium are returning — and creating a housing crunch
NEW-WES-VALLEY — The affordable housing complex Mike Tiller is hoping for is unlike anything else in his community.
The sleek, modular buildings with sloping roofs and wide windows pose a sharp contrast to the brightly-coloured clapboard houses dotting the shores in New-Wes-Valley, a small fishing community along the northern end of Newfoundland's Bonavista Bay.
But the homes would solve a problem Tiller never thought he'd face as mayor of the rural Newfoundland town: people are moving there, rather than moving away. And they need somewhere to live.
'It's a huge change,' Tiller said in a recent interview, shaking his head outside the town hall. 'You can't have people coming here looking for homes and not have anything for them to live in or you're never going to grow your town ... And we can't afford any more major decreases in population.'
That's why the town paid about $140,000 for Biosis, a Danish architecture firm with experience building on rocky landscapes, to design a 17-unit affordable housing complex that will sit on oceanfront land.
N.L. housing complex
The 17-unit housing complex, seen in this artist's rendering handout image, was designed by Danish firm Biosis for the rural Newfoundland community of New-Wes-Valley. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Biosis
(HO/The Canadian Press)
The municipality purchased the land, making use of a federal grant. The town is also ready to foot the bill for road and sewer connections. Council will publish a request for proposals from interested developers in the coming days, Tiller said.
'The need is there, the desire is there,' he said. 'We just need somebody to listen.'
Rural communities across Newfoundland and Labrador have been slowly emptying out since 1992, when the federal government brought the lucrative northern cod fishery to a halt as the fish stocks collapsed. The move resulted in one of the largest mass layoffs in Canadian history: businesses closed, jobs dried up and young people began to move away, leaving behind their aging parents and grandparents.
The demographics in New-Wes-Valley are typical in rural Newfoundland: the town is home to some 2,050 people, more than a third of whom are 65 or older, according to the latest census. The average age there is 52.
But things are shifting. People are moving to New-Wes-Valley, many of whom are coming back home after working in St. John's or other provinces.
As a result, the increased demand is driving up housing prices and property taxes.
Ten years ago, homes in New-Wes-Valley regularly sold for $30,000, said Cheryl Smith, a town councillor and real estate agent. Now they can sell for more than $100,000. That's a lot for many locals, but still attractive for people in other parts of Canada, Smith said.
Seniors on fixed incomes who want to move into smaller homes have few options. They can't afford the new housing costs, nor can they afford the municipal tax hikes, Tiller said. Some have moved away to Gander, N.L., a much larger centre with more housing options.
He wants them to be able to stay.
Sarah Norris left New-Wes-Valley for Alberta on Christmas Day in 2010, about two years after graduating high school — it was a cheap flight, she explained in a recent interview.
She moved back home in March 2022, wanting a fresh start. She now owns and operates the Salt & Sail café and tavern, where diners in bright booths look out over low-sloping rocks leading into the ocean.
The biggest change she sees in her community since she returned is the number of young families.
'Our kindergarten class this year needed two teachers because it was so large, I think it was 24 students. That is huge for our area,' she said. 'I think people are just really thirsty for peace, honestly, just tranquility. And that's what you'll get here.'
Norris said she knows people in their 90s who are still living in large saltbox-style homes where they raised their families. There's just nowhere else for them to live, she said.
'They're, like, 95 and they just move their beds downstairs,' Norris said.
If they could find a smaller place, they could sell their bigger house to a young family like hers, she added.
About 40 minutes south of New-Wes-valley, the same scenario is playing out in Centreville-Wareham-Trinity with one major difference: the town already has affordable housing. And it's full.
Mayor Ivan Pickett walked down a road lined with modern-looking duplexes that rent for about $650 a month. Some had basketball nets and bikes in the front yard.
A handful were built about a decade ago, when the town got some funding to build affordable homes. The majority were built later, by a private developer, Pickett said.
The town needs about 20 more. 'At least,' the mayor said. '20 units would be gobbled up pretty quickly.'
Tiller doesn't believe New-Wes-Valley's population is going to stop declining -- there still aren't enough young people to balance the number of older residents. But he hopes to keep the population higher than 2,000 for as long as he can -- and he believes the affordable housing complex will help.
'We want to keep our seniors here. We also want to attract newcomers to the area,' Tiller said. 'We are doing whatever we can to give people options so that they don't leave our town.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2025.
By Sarah Smellie
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
6 minutes ago
- Global News
Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu eyes new markets, smaller trade delegations
Ottawa's new trade minister says he's looking to sign deals in South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and beyond — and to convince businesses to actually use the trade agreements Canada has already signed. 'My primary role as Canada's top salesman is to be out there hustling, opening doors for businesses and accessing new markets,' Maninder Sidhu told The Canadian Press. 'My phone has been ringing with opportunities because people want to deal with reliable, stable trading partners.' Prime Minister Mark Carney has tasked Dominic LeBlanc as minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade. Sidhu's job focuses on countries other than the U.S. Export Development Canada says Ottawa has 15 free trade agreements covering 51 countries, offering Canadian exporters preferential access to over 1.5 billion consumers. But Sidhu said Canadian businesses could be doing a lot more to look beyond the U.S., particularly as Washington threatens and imposes a range of tariffs. Story continues below advertisement Sidhu served four years as a parliamentary secretary in roles reflecting all three branches of Global Affairs Canada: aid, trade and diplomacy. The job saw him represent Canada in trade promotion events in Southeast Asia and security forums in the Caribbean. Sidhu worked as a customs broker before politics — a job that focuses on navigating red tape and tariffs to secure the best rate for trading goods. Sidhu said he plans to visit Brazil soon as the South American country seeks to revive trade talks that kicked off in 2018 between the Mercosur trade bloc and Canada. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy His predecessor Mary Ng put an emphasis on large trade missions which took months to plan. The minister would sometimes fill a plane with corporate and business leaders, spending a substantial chunk of time in one or two countries. Sidhu said he is hoping to bring smaller delegations of companies with him on his trips abroad, with a focus on specific sectors, 'whether it's South America, Indo-Pacific to Europe, to Africa.' 'Businesses feel like they're heard, but they're also getting higher-level meetings on the opposite side in the countries that we take them into,' he said. Ottawa is navigating its trade ties with China as the two countries work to revive the decades-old Joint Economic and Trade Commission, a forum to sort out trade irritants. Story continues below advertisement China has been roundly accused of engaging in coercive trade practices and of restricting certain commodities or services like tourism during political disagreements with Ottawa. Sidhu said the goal there is to offer 'stability' to industry, with an emphasis on 'how do we work through those challenges, and how do we make sure that those conversations are facilitated.' Sidhu also downplayed the chances of a bilateral trade deal with the United Kingdom. Trade talks collapsed last year over the U.K.'s desire to sell more cheese in Canada and after Britain blocked Canadian hormone-treated beef. Both countries are using a temporary deal put in place after Britain left the European Union, and the U.K. will soon enter a trade bloc that focuses on the Pacific Rim, Sidhu noted. He said Canada would still be open to a full deal. 'If U.K. and Canadian businesses already have access on 99 per cent of the items that we trade, then if we're looking at trade agreements, we need to make sure that we're getting the best value for our negotiations,' Sidhu said. He also said Canada could consider 'sector-specific agreements' with other countries, instead of comprehensive deals that span most industries. 'We are getting very creative in how we can open up more doors,' he said. Story continues below advertisement Sidhu did not name specific countries where Canada might pursue sector-specific agreements. Canada had been looking at a trade agreement with India that would be limited to certain sectors — before Ottawa suspended talks in 2023 following an assassination the RCMP has linked to New Delhi. Ottawa launched security talks with India this spring and agreed to re-establish high commissioners. Sidhu was circumspect when asked when Canada might re-establish trade talks with India. 'This is a step-by-step approach,' he said, adding that the eventual return of top envoys will help 'to carry out those very important conversations.' Sidhu said Global Affairs Canada is still sorting out how Carney's decision to cut spending in all departments will affect the trade branch. 'It's really going to be a focused approach, of where we can make the best impact,' Sidhu said. The Business Council of Canada has urged Ottawa to expand the number of trade commissioners, who provide the contacts on the ground for Canadian companies looking for export opportunities. While Sidhu did not say whether Ottawa's cuts will mean fewer trade commissioners, he said he's heard a clear message from chambers of commerce that these positions are extremely valuable. 'It comes down to return on investments, what programs are working (and) where can we get the best bang for our buck for Canadian industry and Canadian workers,' he said. Story continues below advertisement 'A lot of the business community doesn't even know that (the Trade Commissioner Service) is there to help. And so my job is to help amplify that.'
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Companies taking concrete steps toward capturing revenues from carbon dioxide
A CarbiCrete curing chamber in which CO2 is permanently mineralized into concrete during the curing process is seen in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — CarbiCrete (Mandatory Credit) It can be used to make fuel, fertilizer, building material and even soap, but can carbon dioxide be a money maker, too? Carbon capture has long been a focus of emissions reduction efforts in Canada. It involves collecting the climate-warming gas from industrial sites and preventing it from entering the atmosphere, most often by stowing it away permanently underground. Less common has been capturing CO2 and making it into something useful. 'Carbon utilization does not have a big history. It's relatively nascent,' said Apoorv Sinha, chief executive of Carbon Upcycling. The Calgary-based company combines industrial waste products with carbon dioxide to make a cement-like product that can be used in concrete foundations and sidewalks. 'Canada actually punches well above its weight in carbon-to-value across the building material sector, even in carbon chemicals.' Storing carbon has been the automatic go-to as industry has a wealth of experience doing it at a large scale, said David Sanguinetti, interim CEO at cleantech incubator Foresight Canada. While carbon utilization has the benefit of generating direct revenues from usable products, the economics are uncertain in a lot of cases, he said. 'It's either niche or not great right now with the current state of technology,' he said. 'If you don't have a price on carbon, then a lot of the current concepts that are out there, which are technically feasible — people have done it in the lab, they've proven it out — there isn't an economic driver to make it happen.' The Canadian Gas Association commissioned a report from Foresight Canada last year into the carbon utilization market, which concluded that storing carbon from large industrial emitters is likely to beat out using it — at least for the time being. Foresight sees southwestern Ontario being a good spot for carbon utilization to take root as there are clusters of large emitters and innovation hubs, but little in the way of infrastructure for underground storage like Alberta has. CO2 utilization falls into two categories — direct use or conversion. Direct use includes the long-standing practice of injecting the gas into mature oilfields to draw more barrels to the surface. With conversion, the chemical makeup of the gas is altered to make products like aviation fuel and fertilizer. At a smaller scale, Calgary-based CleanO2 captures the gas from building heating systems and turns it into pearl ash used in its hand soap, shampoo and other products. One of the more promising applications has been using the gas in building materials so it's trapped permanently. Last week, Carbon Upcycling held a groundbreaking ceremony at the Ash Grove cement plant in Mississauga, Ont., where work on a commercial demonstration project is underway. Production is to begin next spring. CarbiCrete, based in Montreal, has developed technology for greener precast masonry and hardscapes — think concrete blocks, retaining walls and paving stones that can be sent to a construction site, not the ready-mix stuff churning in a truck's drum. Concrete is traditionally made up of cement, aggregate like rocks or gravel, and water. 'It's the most abundant manmade substance on the planet,' said Yuri Mytko, CarbiCrete's chief marketing officer. 'But cement has traditionally been the key ingredient and cement is hugely problematic in that it accounts for about eight per cent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.' CarbiCrete uses steelmaking slag instead of cement, and cures it in a chamber with CO2 instead of applying heat and steam. 'You're left with a concrete product that has the same properties as cement-based concrete, except with none of the emissions associated with it and also with carbon having been permanently mineralized and removed from the atmosphere,' said Mytko. CarbiCrete licenses its technology to concrete product makers and helps them retrofit their plants. Dave Sawyer, principal economist at the Canadian Climate Institute said utilization can work by helping companies generate credits to sell, but it's a relatively small piece of the emissions-reduction picture. Carbon capture, utilization and storage in general has been painted by business and industry as 'one big silver bullet technology,' he said, but there are other emissions-busting approaches that should be getting more attention. For example, sodium ion batteries may be just as technically feasible as carbon capture, utilization and storage — and maybe cheaper. 'But we just keep going to this big lumpy thing ... that is really cost prohibitive.' Sinha said carbon utilization gets a fraction of the support and resources of traditional storage projects, whose technology has been around for decades. 'What needs to happen is more support and a larger focus towards deploying these technologies quickly and testing them out. Because right now, just the amount of data — how to build these facilities, how to operate them — very little of it exists.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2025. Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu eyes new markets, smaller trade delegations
Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu speaks to journalists as he arrives for a meeting of the federal cabinet in West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang OTTAWA — Ottawa's new trade minister says he's looking to sign deals in South America, Southeast Asia, Africa and beyond — and to convince businesses to actually use the trade agreements Canada has already signed. 'My primary role as Canada's top salesman is to be out there hustling, opening doors for businesses and accessing new markets,' Maninder Sidhu told The Canadian Press. 'My phone has been ringing with opportunities because people want to deal with reliable, stable trading partners.' Prime Minister Mark Carney has tasked Dominic LeBlanc as minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade. Sidhu's job focuses on countries other than the U.S. Export Development Canada says Ottawa has 15 free trade agreements covering 51 countries, offering Canadian exporters preferential access to over 1.5 billion consumers. But Sidhu said Canadian businesses could be doing a lot more to look beyond the U.S., particularly as Washington threatens and imposes a range of tariffs. Sidhu served four years as a parliamentary secretary in roles reflecting all three branches of Global Affairs Canada: aid, trade and diplomacy. The job saw him represent Canada in trade promotion events in Southeast Asia and security forums in the Caribbean. Sidhu worked as a customs broker before politics — a job that focuses on navigating red tape and tariffs to secure the best rate for trading goods. Sidhu said he plans to visit Brazil soon as the South American country seeks to revive trade talks that kicked off in 2018 between the Mercosur trade bloc and Canada. His predecessor Mary Ng put an emphasis on large trade missions which took months to plan. The minister would sometimes fill a plane with corporate and business leaders, spending a substantial chunk of time in one or two countries. Sidhu said he is hoping to bring smaller delegations of companies with him on his trips abroad, with a focus on specific sectors, 'whether it's South America, Indo-Pacific to Europe, to Africa.' 'Businesses feel like they're heard, but they're also getting higher-level meetings on the opposite side in the countries that we take them into,' he said. Ottawa is navigating its trade ties with China as the two countries work to revive the decades-old Joint Economic and Trade Commission, a forum to sort out trade irritants. China has been roundly accused of engaging in coercive trade practices and of restricting certain commodities or services like tourism during political disagreements with Ottawa. Sidhu said the goal there is to offer 'stability' to industry, with an emphasis on 'how do we work through those challenges, and how do we make sure that those conversations are facilitated.' Sidhu also downplayed the chances of a bilateral trade deal with the United Kingdom. Trade talks collapsed last year over the U.K.'s desire to sell more cheese in Canada and after Britain blocked Canadian hormone-treated beef. Both countries are using a temporary deal put in place after Britain left the European Union, and the U.K. will soon enter a trade bloc that focuses on the Pacific Rim, Sidhu noted. He said Canada would still be open to a full deal. 'If U.K. and Canadian businesses already have access on 99 per cent of the items that we trade, then if we're looking at trade agreements, we need to make sure that we're getting the best value for our negotiations,' Sidhu said. He also said Canada could consider 'sector-specific agreements' with other countries, instead of comprehensive deals that span most industries. 'We are getting very creative in how we can open up more doors,' he said. Sidhu did not name specific countries where Canada might pursue sector-specific agreements. Canada had been looking at a trade agreement with India that would be limited to certain sectors — before Ottawa suspended talks in 2023 following an assassination the RCMP has linked to New Delhi. Ottawa launched security talks with India this spring and agreed to re-establish high commissioners. Sidhu was circumspect when asked when Canada might re-establish trade talks with India. 'This is a step-by-step approach,' he said, adding that the eventual return of top envoys will help 'to carry out those very important conversations.' Sidhu said Global Affairs Canada is still sorting out how Carney's decision to cut spending in all departments will affect the trade branch. 'It's really going to be a focused approach, of where we can make the best impact,' Sidhu said. The Business Council of Canada has urged Ottawa to expand the number of trade commissioners, who provide the contacts on the ground for Canadian companies looking for export opportunities. While Sidhu did not say whether Ottawa's cuts will mean fewer trade commissioners, he said he's heard a clear message from chambers of commerce that these positions are extremely valuable. 'It comes down to return on investments, what programs are working (and) where can we get the best bang for our buck for Canadian industry and Canadian workers,' he said. 'A lot of the business community doesn't even know that (the Trade Commissioner Service) is there to help. And so my job is to help amplify that.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
