Tyler Cowan
The economist with a dedicated following thanks to his excellent blog Marginal Revolution and excellent podcast Conversations with Tyler came to St. John’s in 2022.
Among his observations of my city:
“most people in the city above age 45 have a noticeable Irish accent, albeit with some Canadianisms thrown in. Those accents are close to those of Waterford, Ireland, and many Irish from the southeast of the country came over in the 1790-1820 period. The younger residents of St. John’s sound like other Canadians.”
I don’t think of the Newfoundland accent as going through a generational phase-out. I’m under 45 and have an accent so maybe I’m biased, or maybe he’s just wrong. I don’t know what young townies sound like. I know that young baymen still sound like Newfoundlanders, but to be fair Tyler was only speaking of St. John’s, not the rest of the province.
“A jellybean house near center city now runs between 300k-400k Canadian, the result of a big price hike once some offshore oil was discovered.”
Neat to hear an economist of Cowan’s stature so quickly link up housing prices and oil. Not saying he’s wrong but I believe there is more to it. The comments get comical when readers freak out over 3-400k and Cowan’s usage of the phrase “big price hike”. Yeah, I mean I don’t know how people in Toronto and Vancouver do it. Losers!
hahaha
I’m just kidding about them being Losers. I don’t call people Losers because that implies I’m winning or I’m at least tied.
Jesus Bryan why does everything have to be a god damn competition!
I don’t know! It’s just the way I am.
“Indians and Filipinos are playing some role in revitalizing the city. Not long ago about one thousand Ukrainians arrived.”
True, and you don’t hear it stated so matter of factly in my hockey dressing room.
“Newfoundland ran up major debts in WWI, and tried to relieve them by selling Labrador to Canada. Canada refused.”
Apparently we tried to sell Labrador 3 times during the 20s, and each time Canada rejected the offer deeming the price too high. Wow.
“Apart from the major museum (“The Rooms”), there are few signs of the indigenous.”
What indigenous?
I’m reminded of the Chris Rock bit where he fails his Black History class because he didn’t know anything about Africa. All I learned in school was Martin Luther King. That was my answer to everything: Martin Luther King. What’s the capital of Zaire? Martin Luther King. Can you tell me the name of the woman who would not leave her seat on the bus? That’s hard. Are you sure it was a woman? Oh, I know: Tina Luther King!
I feel like I can substitute Chris’s MLK experience with my John Cabot experience and it’s only mildly inappropriate. John Cabot was my answer to everything, too. And honest to god, the extent of my indigenous knowledge was building a teepee in my back yard, which I feel was cultural appreciation not cultural appropriation, although if you disagreed I wouldn’t fight you on it, and the answer to the question “who did it?” Who did it? Shanawdithit. I learned that from my Grade 10 English teacher and I retained it.
Back to reality, if St. John’s made an effort to better recognize Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit culture in our shared public spaces I would support that and be happy about it. I think white people who complain about wokeism driving indigenous reconciliation down our throats are idiots and have the emotional intelligence of a rubber ball. I’m all about truth and reconciliation- bring it on, baby! The more uncomfortable I am the better. Make me squirm! Watch me grow!
And my favourite Cowan observation:
“As you might expect to find in a small country, but not in a small province, you regularly meet people who seem too smart or too attractive for their current jobs.”
Never heard Newfoundlanders described this way before. He must have went to the Avalon Mall.
Cowan concludes:
“I would not say it is radically exciting here, but overall I would be long St. John’s. If nothing else, it makes for an excellent three-day weekend or nature-oriented week-long trip, and I hardly know any Americans who have tried that.”
I like how he states bluntly “It’s alright”. There’s honesty there that you don’t often see. People either lie and say “they love it!” or they lie and say “they hate it!” and there isn’t enough open honesty with folks telling it like it is: It’s alright. I suppose “It’s alright” doesn’t sell plane tickets and we need those Tourism NL ads greasing the wheels of our economic machine.
The comments section gets entertaining as only smart people read Cowan’s blog so there is a built in idiot-filter that I’m not used to working with when reading online forums about Newfoundland. I’m probably the dumbest regular reader of Cowan’s work, and let’s be real, I’m pretty damn brilliant. You’re sitting in the advanced class now. Try and keep up.
Newfoundlanders love it when non-Newfoundlanders come over. Like on a trip. Or if you’re a celebrity and you come here we’ll love you forever. Obviously Cowan is not a celebrity - but - I enjoyed reading his thoughts about his trip as people aren’t in the habit of articulating their NL experience in as much detail - usually an Instagram post covers it (Gwyneth, Obama, Rob Stewart Sealskin Jacket, etc) and we’re happy enough with that level of content.
But I appreciate a good written report. Thanks a lot, brother. Come again.
