Rural: Is it worth saving?
Ivan Emke
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
3 May 2006
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
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MUN Presents
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MUN Presence
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MUN Prescience?
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
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“It’s not a
transcendent purpose
of Canadian life to
preserve these dinky
little towns in the
middle of nowhere”
Barry Cooper,
University of Calgary
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
What is rural?
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Representations of Rural
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Backward and rustic
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Idyllic and romanticized
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Why not let evolution take its course?
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People-based
Prosperity
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Place-based
Prosperity
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
A Rural Power Movement?
Whatever happened to protesters
these days…?
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Tradition and local identity
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A powerful connection
to a place and a way of
life
“Communities are able to sustain themselves over
generations on the basis of a common identity,
purpose, and culture that binds people together”
(Nozick, 1994)
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
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But can culture and
heritage also be a
source of
marginalization?
Both economic and
social?
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Globalization
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Markets
Communication
Trade relationships
Cultural tastes
Economic ties
Decline of local/regional/national decisionmaking power
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Effects of Globalization
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Jacques Ellul
“Machine logic”
Decisions based on
binary thought
A lack of flexibility
The worship of
numbers
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Effects of Globalization (2)
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Palliative Care for
Communities
Problems with access
to capital (microcredit)
The continuing need
for “local heroes”
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Rural-Urban Linkages
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Urban: is it worth
saving?
Urban: is it
sustainable … without
rural?
“Real reforms are, in the
beginning, impractical by
definition” – Paul Gruchow
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Rural-Urban Interdependence
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Urban Canada relies on the resources,
amenities, institutions, and heritage of
rural places
Rural Canada relies on the capital,
technology, production, and political power
of urban centres
Both of them share the air, water,
environment, and political structure
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Rural-Urban Conflicts
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Conflicts over
production practices of
rural
The lack of direct
relationships between
producers and
consumers
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Rural-Urban Alliances
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Rural Secretariat
 Who is the Urban
Secretariat?
 Should RS be re-formed
as a Rural-Urban
Alliance?
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The solutions to urban
problems may affect rural
communities differently
 Gun registration
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
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Rural as the “Social
Watershed” for Urban
If rural is healthy,
whatever flows into
urban is healthy as
well
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Food
Water
Resources
Human capital
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Educating Urban
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The need to get urban
populations to
appreciate the value,
to cities, of rural
communities
The need to get rural
populations to
appreciate the value of
their own amenities
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Rural-Urban Compromise
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Rural services will cost
more, per capita
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Schools
Primary health care
A regionalized delivery
of specialized services
(rural will not have
everything urban has)
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
So which communities will survive?
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S = ⅝p x √4t ∕ 2 ??
There is no equation for
this…
Key individuals
Resource development
Collective
entrepreneurship
Cohesion
Policy vision from above
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Rural Power
"If we continue to be locked into the
past, we will miss the future“ - Ramea
Industrial Adjustment Services
Committee, 1994
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Two kinds of rural challenges
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An external threat that is
quick and dramatic
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Response can be direct and
useful
Response can build capacity
A threat that is slowacting, gradual, without
clear single causes
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Response is more difficult
May fracture the community
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Pay now, or pay later…?
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Rural: Of course its Worth
Saving!
Ivan Emke
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
3 May 2006
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College