Chebucto News December 2011 - Ships and the Future Start Here

Michèle Raymond
Thursday December 1, 2011

Ships and the Future Start Here

In the month since the jubilation that greeted the well-deserved announcement that Ships will Start in Halifax for the next 20 years, Nova Scotia has undergone other, equally profound changes, some positive, and others which must be greeted with imagination and determination.

I am writing this article from New England, a place whose industry was long a source of wonder and admiration; Timex, Colt, Winchester, and hundreds of other famous companies still pursue their work in factories whose gilded domes and gothic spires spoke of a pride and a desire to erect monuments to Enterprise, which was rarely seen in Nova Scotia, a place of raw resources, and smaller, scattered ventures.

Today, however, Nova Scotia stands on the brink of a new industrial future, as traditional enterprise is struggling in the face of global economic distress.

Pulp mills and forestry contractors have been faced with withering demand for paper and building supplies; the housing market collapse in the USA means there is little or no market for the gypsum which we’ve long been sending abroad for drywall fabrication. Canada’s negotiations with the European Union for a Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement may mean that ‘buy-local’ procurement is prohibited, meaning that NS, like other provinces, will be prevented from exercising the Sustainable Procurement provisions brought in by this government, just as the Euro is under threat and the Canadian dollar unusually strong, and expected to remain so. This could be very hard on our smaller-scale farmers and manufacturers, either forcing them under, or to pursue ever more stringent economies of scale.

At the same time, Occupy movements, still somewhat unclear in purpose, are tenaciously holding ground around the world, the result of a question in Vancouver’s Adbusters magazine earlier this year “What would happen if” people Occupied Wall Street?

We’re finding out. And the longer the protesters remain, polite, as they have been, the deeper the questions become. Why is wealth so concentrated in the developed world? Why is the gap between rich and poor in Canada, smaller than in the USA, growing wider at such a speed? Is it a natural process, or the result of deliberate choices?

I have written before about my worry that the profusion of communication possibilities is obliterating people’s drive to participate in the democratic process. I am more than ever concerned, as more Twitter, Facebook, chat, text, email, phone call options convince people that they have participated in decision-making, when they have in fact only made a gesture which may or may not be recorded.

Recently I had the chance to look at a flowchart on municipal decision-making, (this one in reference to possible extension of sewer and water services along the Purcells Cove Road), and realized that the chart showed that Council might initiate a process, appoint a ‘steering committee’, present options to affected residents, and, whether they said Yes or No, continue with it unaffected.

This is a farce of consultation, and I think it may be these exercises which fuel some of the anger in the Occupy movement and others like it. For a community to be asked its opinion, and then to find it has been utterly irrelevant, is more angering than not to be asked at all. Yet there are structures which are designed to promote the farce of consultation, and these structures, whether they are called boards, committees, or agencies, if they are made up of members appointed, rather than elected, will tend to make the decisions desired by those who appoint.

So if we aren’t participating in electing those who will make the appointments, we’re not affecting the outcome. I hope the Occupiers will Occupy the voting booth. It’s everyone’s right, and duty, and it’s the only opinion guaranteed not be deemed irrelevant. And as Ships, and the future, Start Here, it’s important that all voices be heard and respected in shaping the province of tomorrow.

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