Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>]

Corner Post #349
Canada
Farm & Countryside Commentary by Elbert van Donkersgoed



The Greater Golden Horseshoe is the economic engine of Ontario and of
Canada. That is one of the underlying premises of all those discussion
papers issued by our provincial government over the past six months: Places
to Grow, Growing Strong Rural Communities, Toward a Golden Horseshoe
Greenbelt, Planning Act Reform, Ontario Municipal Board Reform - the list
goes on.



I don't object to thinking about the Greater Golden Horseshoe in terms of
one powerful economic engine. Most years it acts like one big vacuum cleaner
sucking in much of the economic potential of the rest of Ontario and a lot
from across Canada. But the writers of these discussion documents assume
that urban regions, with their concentration of public and private
resources, drive economic development all by themselves. Their concept of
sustainable growth is simplistic: draw people with talent, money and ideas
into urban centres and all will be well.



In reality, our urban centres enjoy symbiotic relationships with our
countryside, towns and small cities that wrap around them. For example, for
generations youth from towns, villages and farms have moved to the bright
lights of our urban centres. Enough went back to our countryside with new
talents, new money and new ideas to sustain a thriving countryside economy.
But the latest wisdom, delivered by the authors of the current set of
discussion papers, proposes putting all our eggs in a few baskets. The
cities that are already booming, have been designated priority urban centres
and worthy of the new approach to growth in Ontario. They will reap first
dibs on infrastructure money and new incentive programs.



The province's new growth strategy lacks a key insight. Describing urban
centres as economic engines is OK. Just don't forget that engines consume.
The lesson from mining towns is clear: deplete your resource and your
community's vitality suffers dramatically. Is it coincidence that almost
one-third of Canadians have made the Greater Golden Horseshoe their home?
Check out where about half of Canada' best farmland is located. Again and
again, farmland--with the guidance of farmers--takes nutrients, rain and
free energy from the sun and turns it into a stream of new wealth. That
guaranteed flow of new wealth enabled the emergence of dynamic urban
centres. To this day that new wealth is a foundation of the Greater Golden
Horseshoe.



A new strategy for Ontario urban centres cannot afford to treat small
cities, towns and the countryside like a hinterland to be cannibalized of
people, money and resources. In their own long-term interests a two-way
relationship is essential. Urban centres have to give back - and just
sending urban waste and sewage sludge doesn't cut it.

__________

The discussion paper, "Places to Grow: Better Choices. Brighter Future," can
be accessed at
<http://www.placestogrow.pir.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_2_20438_1.html>
www.placestogrow.pir.gov.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_2_20438_1.html. Note maps
4, 5 and 6.



Elbert van Donkersgoed P. Ag. (Hon.) is the Strategic Policy Advisor of the
Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, Canada. Corner Post has been heard
weekly on CFCO Radio, Chatham and CKNX Radio, Wingham, Ontario since 1997.
Corner Post has an email subscriber list of more than 3,000 and appears
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www.agriculture.com/worldwide/correspondents/index.html and as "Letter from
Ontario" on The New Farm website at www.newfarm.org
<http://www.newfarm.org/> .

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