Secondly, there is no illusion here that conventional economic mathematics has ever really worked for this region, at least in the last 100 years. There is perhaps a greater openness here to an alternative system that values our true assets than in a region like Upper Canada that is more firmly yoked to the TSE, the Bank of Canada, to company headquarters and to the other institutions of blind growth. Thirdly, for some reason, the materialist juggernaut has not irrevocably paved this region over, at least not yet. Community values are still remarkably strong. There is still a gentleness, straightforwardness, generosity, and willingness to help our neighbours that has not yet succumbed to greed and egoism.
Visitors feel it.
Locals who leave for greener economic pastures often return after some years, drawn back by a mysterious magnet that has more to do with quality of life than quantity of possessions. But we are not immune. Small community schools are being replaced by massive private-public partnered crowd control enclosures. From a fraction of the national average 30 years ago, crime rates are rising fast to meet national standards. Government-supported gambling is eroding the social fabric.