Village Squire, 1973-05, Page 19Small towns
after he analyzed the data of the
1961 census. It showed that even
at that late date 6,004,383 people
lived in communities of 30,000
population or over. Another
2,072,785 lived on farms. That
came to a total of 8,077,168
people, close to one-half the total
1961 population of a little more
than 18,000,000.
And he pointed out another
relevant factor most people, in-
cluding social scientists have
ignored. That is Statistic Canada's
definition of "urban dweller".
Statistics Canada classifies people
as urban if they live in commu-
nities of 1,000 population or more.
So the 76.1 per cent of Canadians
classified as urban in the 1971
census include millions of people
who live in small towns or vil-
lages. This puts an entirely new
light on the picture of Canada as
an "urban" country. Unfortunate-
ly, few of our politicians seem to
have found the switch with which
to turn on that light. They still
seem to think most Canadians
live in Toronto, Montreal and
Vancouver.
What's more, even the great
metropolitan areas to which we
as a people are flocking, including
hundreds of communities with
populations between 1,000 and
30,000.
The minetowns, railtowns and
militowns where millions of
Canadians live are mostly smaller
communities. Yet on their pro-
duction depends the economy of
all of Canada. And it is from the
centres of 30,000 population or
less that most of our urban
dwellers come. Just because these
communities are neglected, their
young people leave them and
move to the cities, bringing with
them the values of life in a com-
munity where people know one
another and people care for one
another.
Our small communities have
problems. More and more indus-
try — particularly secondary in-
dustry — is moving to the larger
population centres to be close to
markets and transportation. The
federal regional incentive pro-
gram was supposed to have
helped this situation. But too
often it has just meant the open-
ing of a modern, automatic plant
in one community, at the price of
the closing of a bigger one, em-
ploying more people, in some
other small community.
People who live in smaller
communities face some disadvan-
tages, usually due to the lack of
attention from legislators. Often
their schools go only to grade 12,
offer little choice of subject, and
are staffed by young teachers
who get a few years' experience
and then move to the cities. Often
they have little choice as con-
sumers, and this is particularly
true of isolated mill towns or
mine towns. Their recreational
facilities are limited, and they
have a much better case for
government subsidization of re-
creation than the urban centre
where commercial entertainment
is readily available. Small town
people learn recreation is a do-it-
yourself matter, and they prob-
ably are better people for it.
Politically they sometimes have
problems, with one major com-
pany dominating local decision
making. Often, too, the major
employer also dominates the local
newspaper, and vital issues aren't
discussed in its pages.
One other real anxiety in the
life of the resident of the small
town is insecurity. Whether he
has a job tomorrow is often
dependent on decisions over which
he has no control, made at com-
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