SAVE for the marked difference in temperature, even in August, and the old world architecture, a Jamaican could feel right at home in downtown Saint John.

The street names are familiar after all, as are the ocean views and the breeze that wafts from the harbour. There are King Street and Princess Street, Duke Street and Queen Street, Orange Street and Prince William Street. There are tourists and cruise ships and a people who are outwardly warm and friendly — as long as you never abbreviate Saint, never put an apostrophe on ‘John’ and call the downtown area ‘uptown’.

Saint John sits on the Bay of Fundy in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick and is home to some 750,000 people.

Though not the provincial capital, it enjoys a place of pre-eminence in the country. For one, it’s Canada’s oldest city, having been incorporated in 1785. Second, it houses the first bank to be chartered in Canada — the Bank of New Brunswick. And third, St John is home to Canada’s oldest publicly funded high school — Saint John High School.

There’s also the fact that in 1842, Saint John became home to Canada’s first public museum, originally known as the Gesner Museum after founder Abraham Gesner, the first modern commercial producer of kerosene. It is now known as the New Brunswick Museum. Add to that the launch in 1851 of Marco Polo, the first vessel to make the trip from England to Australia in under six months; and the invention of the automated steam foghorn by Robert Foulis, in 1854.

Today, Saint John, which is washed by both the Saint John River and Saint John Harbour, is home to gasoline, oil, and natural gas producing and exporting company Irving Oil Ltd, as well as campuses of the University of New Brunswick (UNB) and New Brunswick Community College (NBCC). It’s known for the reversing rapids, also called the reversing falls, a phenomenon caused by the collision of the river and harbour tides.

Historically, the city’s economy was driven by industry, chief among them shipbuilding. Today, however, it is expanding its footprint in the growing tourism sector, welcoming 1.5 million visitors a year — 200,000 of whom are from cruise ships alone.

“It’s a great place to be a mayor,” John Darling told a group of visiting Jamaicans last week.

“We’re Canada’s oldest city. We’re 232 years old we have an amazing rich history, rich architecture, and a very diverse economy…What we need most in this city is to grow and we talk about people, jobs and growing the tax base,” he said.

Increasing the number of young, international students it attracts to UNB and NBCC and retains upon graduation, is also key in that mix, Mayor Darling explained.

Like most of Canada, Saint John has been struggling with the results of an ageing population for many years. In 2016, the city fell from being the most populous city in New Brunswick to the second most populous city in the province.

But it doesn’t appear daunted by the challenge, having had its mettle tested back in 1877 by the Great Fire which razed 200 acres or 40 per cent of the city, killing 18 people, rendering 13,000 homeless and thousands unemployed. The story now forms part of the city’s tourism product and is displayed on picture boards by the harbour.