Addison, president of the NB Development Corporation, the Stephen Lund of the time, announced “the sale of the Westmorland Chemical plant and its large storage tank to an American firm. He thought the new buyers would dismantle it and move the equipment out of the province. He also admitted that the Development Corporation had taken a loss of $8.7 million on the park.”

Other than a person’s hunger strike at the jail, there is no other mention of Dorchester in the almost 50 years’ worth of review.

The Dorchester area over the years had been a site for mining. It played a role as a ‘port’ for ships coming up the Petitcodiac River. It could have easily been built out as cottage country for city folk – there are beautifulplay but in my experience local leaders – government, business, community need to step up first, cast a vision, and put their own skin in the game. I’m not naive. I realize that government has been pivotal in the success of certain communities over time – think about the moving of CN Shops to Moncton in the early 1900s – but for the most part local communities need to take the lead.

A process admittedly complicated in New Brunswick when there are only 11 municipalities with a population of 10,000 or more and only three with 50,000 or more.

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