The scariest part is that the last time I was up there (admittedly some time ago), the total population of Cochrane was around 5000. Never mind the infrastructure for the lots, they’re going to have to entice a new grocery store into town if even half of them get built on. And I hope they’ve got an agreement with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to send them some doctors. And that they’ve expanded the Internet bandwidth available for remote work by considerable, because there aren’t very many jobs up there either. (Nor is Cochrane the first to try this. Another nearby town sold lots off really cheap a few years back. I don’t think they got much out of it.)
As for why they’re doing this . . . most Northern Ontario communities have been slowly but steadily losing population for the last quarter-century or more, because the towns have very little to recommend them unless junior hockey or snowmobiling is a central part of your life. (I grew up in the area, so I know.) This is a stupid publicity stunt to try to push the population up again. The one thing every municipality in the area has lots of is land.
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The scariest part is that the last time I was up there (admittedly some time ago), the total population of Cochrane was around 5000. Never mind the infrastructure for the lots, they’re going to have to entice a new grocery store into town if even half of them get built on. And I hope they’ve got an agreement with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine to send them some doctors. And that they’ve expanded the Internet bandwidth available for remote work by considerable, because there aren’t very many jobs up there either. (Nor is Cochrane the first to try this. Another nearby town sold lots off really cheap a few years back. I don’t think they got much out of it.)
As for why they’re doing this . . . most Northern Ontario communities have been slowly but steadily losing population for the last quarter-century or more, because the towns have very little to recommend them unless junior hockey or snowmobiling is a central part of your life. (I grew up in the area, so I know.) This is a stupid publicity stunt to try to push the population up again. The one thing every municipality in the area has lots of is land.