DRAINING MAINE

Now that the fact that too many people, both young and old, are leaving northern Maine has again been chronicled, it is time to stop talking about the problem and to actually do something about it. Governors for more than a century have lamented what has come to be called the “Brain Drain.” None have been able to solve it. Maine’s geographic location can’t change. Neither can the weather. And Bangor isn’t soon likely to become more like Boston or Tampa or even Portland. Rather than fretting about what they can’t change, state and local policy makers should focus their energies on what can be improved to make this region more inviting to more people.

The worry about young people leaving northern Maine should stop. As Deirdre Mageean, a demographer and associate vice president at the University of Maine and a native of Ireland, points out, young people should be moving away – to pursue higher education, to obtain jobs and to see the world. The problem, she and many others have concluded, is that these young people, and others like them, are not coming to Maine after college. This is where constructive ideas are needed.

A good place to start is with the on-going push to improve east-west transportation links within Maine and the international northeastern region, which includes eastern Canada. The loss of population in northern regions is not unique to Maine. Residents of northern New York are also moving to Boston and the southern United States. That is why is makes sense for the region to work together. In part it’s a matter of geography. Northern Maine appears isolated when just the United States is considered. But, add Canada into the picture and northern Maine becomes the middle of a large region with prosperity on both ends – think Toronto and Halifax.

If goods can more easily be moved between these cities – and others in between – northern Maine can become part of the larger world that has done a better job of weathering the transition from the old manufacturing economy to the new service economy. When northern Maine becomes better connected to the region and the world, companies will take a closer look at locating here. This is only one part of a complicated puzzle, but it would help put a stop to the one-way flow of Maine’s most important asset, its people.