ANTY members launch Pictou County Possibilities Project

Now that amalgamation of Pictou County has been voted down by a large majority, three members of Amalgamation No Thank You Society (ANTY) have taken the lead on a project that aims to help Pictou County build a better plan together.

“Our objective was never the status quo,” explains Brian White, chair of ANTY. “We always believed it is possible to find a better way for the county to move forward, and we heard throughout the campaign that many people agreed.”

White, who lives in New Glasgow, teamed up with Matt Weir of Little Harbour and Barb Harris of River John to launch the Pictou County Possibilities Project (PCPP) after the plebiscite vote.

The Pictou County Possibilities Project hopes to build on the interest in positive change generated through the amalgamation debate.

“While we recognize that there is a need in the community for a break from the intense discussions of the past months, we felt it was important to keep the level of interest and communication active,” White said.

Weir said Pictou County’s people are its greatest asset.

“We were challenged during the campaign to present an alternate plan. ANTY’s response was that we need a process of broad discussion about what we value and want to maintain, what problems are most important to solve. Then we can start working together to identify solutions.”

Weir believes “if we create a discussion that is inclusive of all, the contributions of a wide variety of people will be invaluable.”

The organizers of the PC Possibilities Project hope people will get involved regardless of where they stood on amalgamation. The first stage of the PCPP is a series of open questions for discussion.

Question No. 1 asks citizens to “Name one positive thing you feel has come out of the debate around amalgamation in Pictou County.” Question No. 2 asks, “What’s right with Pictou County? What do you value most and want to keep?” Almost 300 people have joined the discussion group in its first two weeks.

“The amalgamation campaign brought out people’s commitment to their communities and their desire to be engaged,” said Harris. “So many people are interested in getting involved in defining problems and developing solutions. We created the PC Possibilities Project to build on that energy and move it forward.”

More discussion questions will be released before the end of June, when the first stage of the project will wrap up. Feedback to questions can be submitted through the summer, and new ideas shared through both a Facebook page and website. In order to allow participation from the widest number of people, the PCPP will provide a variety of ways for people to add their input, including FB, https://www.facebook.com/ Pictou-County-Possibilities-Project-1560173080951187/ , email to pcpossibilitiesproject@gmail.com, a new website (under construction), and postal mail to 42 Carmichael Court, New Glasgow, NS B2H 5T2.

The group plans to launch a second stage of the PCPP in the fall, which will broaden discussion, while moving towards identifying key problems and looking for creative solutions.

“We don’t know exactly what Stage 2 will look like. We want to give people a chance to shape and define that,” says White. “One of our later discussion questions will ask people what they would like to see happen to move the process forward.”

White, Weir and Harris are currently building a co-ordination team of people who share the ANTY vision of a groundup process of listening to and engaging citizens and are committed to remain open to considering all possibilities for how the county can best move forward.

The organizers say they recognize work has already been done by other groups in Pictou County that may be drawn on where appropriate as the project moves forward.