Once a major rail and auto terminus between NS and CB, Mulgrave suffered an economic decline with the construction of the Canso Causeway. Residents remained optimistic about the future. That optimism seems to be paying off, as there is currently what may be considered an upswing in the economy of Mulgrave.

In 1996, Mulgrave's labour force had a participation rate of 61.3%, and that number is staying strong. Companies such as Mulgrave Machine Works, Ocean Nutrition Canada, A.C.S. Trading, Town Of Mulgrave and the Strait Regional School Board, as well as business generated by the Strait of Canso Superport are reviving the economy.

The Strait of Canso, which is open year round offers services such as fresh water, minor repairs, fuel and other supplies to general cargo vessels, supply vessels, and off-shore oil exploration rigs.

The Mulgrave Industrial Park, located near the Trans-Canada Highway Route 104, is the host to Mulgrave Machine Works, Ocean Nutrition Canada and the Strait Regional School Board Bus Maintenance Garage. Established in 1983, the park covers 54 acres of land, with 4.2 acres on the waterfront. Approximately 62% of the park is currently occupied, leaving plenty of prime space available for future industries.

The Melford Industrial Land Reserve (6000 hectares) lies adjacent to the Strait of Canso and offers great potential for large-scale industrial development projects. These could include petrochemicals, transhipping and bulk storage as well as manufacturing or fabrication facilities.

A new urban center was created in Port Hawkesbury with its population rising 45 percent from 1955 to 1975. The Causeway’s ice-free deep water port shifted the centre of industrial activity from Sydney to the Port Hawkesbury- Point Tupper area.

Mulgrave, a small town across the strait from Port Hawkesbury is another town that over time, had an economic change as a result of the Causeway. In 1994, more than 2300 vessels used the docking facilities of the Strait of Canso at Point Tupper, Port Hawkesbury and Mulgrave to ship pulp and paper, gypsum, aggregate and gravel.

Major industries that have been established in the Strait region have found the ice-free port to be the best location to develop they inlcude:

• Martin Marietta Materials, a U.S. based company which now owns Cape Porcupine, the mountain where aggregate was blasted to constructed the Canso Causeway.
• Nova Scotia Power set up a power plant at Point Tupper to assist the adjacent major industries in the area. The Strait of Canso since the construction of the Canso Causeway has made that body of water one of the largest ice-free ports on the eastern seaboard.
• Since1955, the Town of Port Hawkesbury expanded its population to 5000 with the majority of the town being employees at Stora Enso, the pulp and paper mill located at Point Tupper.
• USG opened a gypsum plant at Point Tupper because of the ease of accessibility to ship gypsum to various ports year round.
• Adjacent to Stora is a gas refinery called Statia Terminals which has had a signifigant impact on the economy of the Strait Area. Statia Terminals, refiners and shippers of gas and oil are able to bring the largest vessels in the world in and out of their ice-free port.