Support rural communities

For those who think all things should be decided and located in Charlottetown, it wouldn’t hurt them to drive 53 km out of the city and expand their world view a bit.

In response to an opinion piece in The Guardian (and Journal Pioneer) on Nov. 13 regarding a view the Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation in St. Peters should be located in Charlottetown because there's more people in Charlottetown, and thus, all things would be closer to more people.

Rural Islanders have lived with this argument of the tyranny of the majority for a long time, and it's part of the discrimination rural Islanders live with. If proponents of eco-centralization really want to remain true to this ideological philosophy, then shouldn't they all move to Toronto and ride bicycles? While P.E.I. promotes people from all over the world to take planes, ships and automobiles to come to P.E.I., there are others who decry the trip to St. Peters from Charlottetown.

Does that 53 kilometres really make a difference to global warming or is it just another way to put down rural Islanders as not deserving to be part of the Island government economy and to advance the argument that rural communities should be shunned out of existence?

The reality is rural P.E.I., especially Eastern P.E.I., is sending tens of millions of dollars of tax revenues to Charlottetown to support the urbanization of things and does not receive fair exchange of government investment in rural communities. More often than not, when there is rural investment, it supports the urban centre more than the rural community.

Enough of colonial management – rural development corporations should be established so rural communities can be part of the decision-making affecting them.

For example, despite serious concerns about the environmental impact, health issues, community well-being, and rural land investments, Energy P.E.I. is trying to impose on Eastern P.E.I. seven wind turbines twice as high as the Peace Tower in Ottawa. While supportive of windmill energy, they should not be located close to people or sensitive environmental areas. Are these community killers really an investment in rural P.E.I. when they send millions of dollars to Charlottetown but destroy rural land values and communities? Are they good for P.E.I.? Whether P.E.I. should destroy ecology and rural communities to generate electricity or concentrate on conservation of energy might be a good first study for the new institute.

It is long past due time that government jobs and money come east, particularly Souris and Georgetown. As there were more federal government jobs in Souris when Lawrence MacAulay first took office than there are today,

I do think he got it right in supporting his home community of St. Peters.

A few of our own rural dollars being spent in our own rural communities is not going to destroy the planet. For those who think all things should be decided and located in Charlottetown, it wouldn’t hurt them to drive 53 km out of the city and expand their world view a bit.