Cape Breton is an island on the northeastern tip of Nova Scotia. The island has only around 135,000 residents, and the numbers keep dropping.
Cape Breton is home to many towns including tiny Whycocomagh, which has fewer than 900 residents. The town is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and the glistening Bras d’Or lake, where kayaks and canoes are much more popular than motorboats. Local businesses include a few gas stations, several restaurants, as well as The Farmer’s Daughter, a bakery and general store, looking to expand. The only problem? They don’t have enough people to hire.
So owners took to social media with a pretty generous offer: Move to Cape Breton and they’ll give you a job and two wooded acres. They admit wages won’t be high, but they say the acreage will be perfect for a tiny house or cabin. They also will offer access to farmland and other resources. If you’re still working there after five years, the land is yours to keep.
I – Word Understanding
Acre = a unit for measuring area, equal to 4,047 square metres
Acreage = an area of land
II – Have your say
1. What do you think of this generous offer of Cape Breton? Do you think it will attract people to move there?
2. As rural Japan battles the twin afflictions of a population that is getting smaller almost as quickly as it’s getting older, many Japanese towns are fading away. Do you know some of these places? What measures have been done to revive these towns?
3. Do you live in a city right now? Have you considered moving to a rural area? What do you think of life in the rural area?
