Canadas Rural Society Seems To Be In Decline ... | |
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The rural skill for self sufficient food production
is a capability that our country should give up with
extreme reluctance.
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Canada's Rural Society Seems To Be In Decline ...Should Anyone Really Care?
Farming communities, once the cornerstone of the Canadian electorate are now dismayed to find themselves in the role of "yet another special interest group". They protest that anyone who likes to eat should care about the family farm. The rest of us suspect, that we might be able to survive quite well, on food imported from California and other warmer climes. Also we wonder if we should really care if a culture that cannot compete in a global economy, can't make it on their own.
During a recent trip to Serbia I saw first hand that when an industrial economy is damaged, it is the people who know how to grow their own food that become the truly wealthy. However, a simple trip to Toronto, where 100 or more homeless people sleep in and around city hall each night, will cause you to wonder if urban economies are capable of absorbing unlimited numbers of rural immigrants.
For urban dwellers I would point out that intuition tells me that preserving our rural society, and the economy that sustains it, is the only true security available to urban and rural dwellers alike.
The rural skill for self sufficient food production, and for the nurturing of our natural environment, is a capability, as any European citizen will tell you, that your country should give up with extreme reluctance;
Our cities appear to be very expensive environments in which to maintain a life: water treatment and delivery, sewage disposal, personal and home security, four lane highways, 60 minute commutes to work, green space and recreational facilities, all seem to come at a very high price in urban environments.
But for rural dwellers I would remind them of the old axiom, "Define or be defined".
In the emerging Canadian economy, where it will become as easy to do business in Tokyo as in Toronto, no one will be immune from the effects of change. The role of rural Canada will have to change. The choice that rural Canadians have is either to actively redefine their own role in the Canadian and world economy, or to wait for someone else to do it for them. We can be assured, that if they wait for someone else to decide their future, those decision makers, "will not be entirely sure which part of a cow the milk comes from".
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