The proof!
When I parked the bike to take a closer look at the wonder - Britney, a recent journalism graduate from Woodstock College in Woodstock New Brunswick greeted me. Britney was spending her "pre-Canada Day" doing a little marketing for the radio station she works for in Woodstock- FM 104 on the Woodstock dial. So far - the people I've met in New Brunswick are well over the half way point on the friendly meter.
On leaving Hartland I made one of those special discoveries - Covered Bridge Potato Chips. New Brunswick is noted for fine potatoes and these were some of the finest chips I've had in many years. I think there's an import opportunity.
Next stop - Fredericton, provincial capital of New Brunswick, and my favorite New Brunswick city so far. This is a college town with all the activity and interesting street scenes that you would expect. Beautiful residential streets, clean and a lot of cultural activity.
My next and last stop for the day was Saint John. A larger city than Fredericton but not one of my favorites. The downtown area was nice with parks and Canada Day celebrations going on but working areas of the town were really run down. Most of the working class houses looked like they were on the verge of collapse. This town is really owned by the Irving family. Irving Oil, Irving Lumber, Irving restaurants, Irving paper mills and Irving refineries. New Brunswick has some of the best infrastructure of many of the provinces and I would imagine it comes from a strong tax base supported by the Irvings. I personally measure the contribution companies make to their communities by the standard of living of the workers they employ and although I'm not Canadian and I'm not from New Brunswick, based on the homes and cars on the streets of Saint John - the community would not seem to be getting their share.
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