While nostalgia may prevail for rural living, government policies should be built on economic opportunities which foster diversification in these areas 3 . The situation in Saskatchewan provides valuable insights into the impact of greater diversification in agriculture upon service centres. Southern Saskatchewan is marked by either large farms following a grain monoculture or large scale ranches. Both require relatively few individuals to operate with the effect that population declines. A somewhat different situation prevails in northern Saskatchewan.
Agriculture there is more diversified, with the population increasing.
This growth becomes important both for the well-being of service centres and for the development of manufacturing. However, evidence of any reversal of a decline in trade-centre status as a result of manufacturing is uncommon 4 . The same governments selectively attempted to offset the negative effects that inevitably followed by retaining unused or seldom used facilities or distributing infrastructure investment so that expenditures were made in as many communities as possible. In the process, consolidation was accelerated while funds were wasted which could have been used to ensure a complete complement of infrastructure at selected locations. While it would be theoretically possible to create employment opportunities in enough rural communities to slow or prevent further consolidation, this option is not realistic 6 .