HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2015-01-14, Page 88 News Record • Wednesday, January 14, 2015
How can we make Huron County better?
Paul Carroll
Special to the News Record
Now look, we do a lot of
things right.
We have a lot going for us.
We have a county full of
wonderful people and we do
have multiple resources,
many of which are unique!
Huron County is special.
There are well-intentioned
leaders; they do lots of great
things. Butfor whatever rea-
son, we seem to cling to out-
dated modes of doing our
public business. It stifles sus-
tainable growth.
Population declines. General
well-being suffers. The recent
report by the Four County
Labour Market Planning Board
offers some damning statistics
about what seems to have
happened in Huron County in
2013. www.planningboard.ca/
userfiles/file/FCLLMP14-
ENG Web.pdf
The report refers to a one-
year decline. The stats are post -
Volvo and other large plant clo-
sures in the county. In the long
term context, there are serious
shrinkage problems. The docu-
ment identifies a population
decline of about 1000 persons
and the closure of some 600
(small) business enterprises.
The validity of some stats
in the report is being ques-
tioned by some Huron
County administrative and
elected officials. However,
The Labour Market Planning
Board stands by its figures.
No matter who is right or
wrong, the trends are not
particularly positive for our
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broader community. They
are quite negative. We are in
a period of decline. We need
to examine ways to reverse
that trend.
In another analysis of
Huron County, a 'skills gaps'
report, www.planningboard.
ca/reports/skills-gap-
study-2014/the-first-step-
understanding-the-skills-gap-
in-huron-county/, suggests
that steps to remedy our
shortcomings be undertaken
only by employers, educators
and community partners.
In the original document,
there was no specific men-
tion about how the elected
municipal councils might
act directly to remedy any
shortcomings. The report
has since been amended to
specify that local councils
have a direct role to play in
economic development and
labour market planning.
Assuming that stability or
"sustainable growth" would
be desirable, is it time for our
political leaders to come
together with business and
community leaders to ana-
lyze our needs? Is it time to
devise changes in the way we
work and interact at council
tables? Is it time to undertake
meaningful new actions for a
better way forward?
Change Is a Must
It is my contention that we
have to make some
changes...And municipal
councils must undertake a
visionary and aggressive
leadership role to nurture the
change that is demanded.
How Can Municipal
Councils Lead the Way?
Several aspects of how we
conduct our public business
seem to be broken and they
must be fixed before our very
future reaches a stage
beyond repair. Too often we
are told why something will
not work, instead of focusing
on how we might act to
make it work. At the very
least, we are obligated to
analyse how we do our pub-
lic business, and consider
that there might be ways to
act more effectively.
Somehow, we have to lay
the cards on the table and
have a really "adult" conver-
sation about what might
have gone wrong.
Personally, I do not feel that
I can have much influence
over what happens at the pro-
vincial or federal levels. It
seems that we all have certain
bones to pick there, regardless
of our political leanings.
Here at home though, we
should able to nurture
change more easily. We
should not conduct any
review as a process of
"blame placing," but we
should try - in a really honest
and open fashion - to assess
any shortfalls, omissions, or
outcomes that might have
missed the mark.
We have a lot of good
things going for us in
Huron County.
With a new batch of eager
political leaders, it behooves us
to start fresh by examining what
some local taxpayers have
called, '!..a mismatch between
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what has been happening at
local council tables and eco-
nomic realities out there in the
real world in Huron County'
We do need to figure out
where we have been, and, in
terms of the labour market
report under discussion, why
are things not working in
Huron. If we are losing busi-
nesses and our population is
declining, we need to take a
hard look at what local gov-
ernments can do to reverse
these trends. I believe that we
should be able to achieve
sustainable development and
growth. We do not need, nor
is it desirable to have ram-
pant growth. Nor can we
return to the heady days of a
larger industrial and manu-
facturing base. The world
economy has changed dra-
matically in that regard and a
quick look at recent plant clo-
sures in Huron County
should affirm that reality.
I offer these observations
based on my experience as a
senior education administrator
for 14 years, as a long-term
community volunteer and as a
person who has taken a turn at
a municipal council table,
locally and at the county levels. I
am a lifelong resident of Huron
County and I believe that I offer
a global county perspective.
Over the long haul, Ihavefound
that it is better to speak up, even
when my positions represent a
minorityview. I am not playing
devil's advocate. I truly believe
that we have much real work to
do and we have to change the
waywe have beenworking.
Lost Opportunity
The most stinging example
of lost opportunity was the
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1995 decision by Huron
County officials not to accept
the invitation from the for-
mer Huron County Board of
Education to partner with the
school system to bring high
speed wireless broadband
access to each municipality.
It was a proposal to partner
with the private sector to pre-
pare our whole population
for the explosion of the infor-
mation age and its relevant
technology. At that time, the
Huron County Board of Edu-
cation was the only school
board in Ontario to host high
speed, wireless broadband
access to the Internet
between the Board Office
and all of its 30 schools.
The system could have been
replicated for the county and all
of the municipalities and, in
partnership with innovative
companies like Hurontel, the
cable companies and others.
The network could have been
spread through towns, villages,
and the rural areas.
Had such steps been
undertaken at that time, we
would have been ideally
positioned for the "new econ-
omy" and the information
age. We have been struggling
ever since to bring broad-
band access to our county,
especially to rural areas.
The effort went off the rails
for political reasons. A very
few, but highly vocal, small
business interests objected
strenuously to the leadership
shown by the board and its
director. A few individuals
proclaimed that the entire
effort should have been a
private sector initiative. They
were wrong. It should have
been a public-private part-
nership that would have
enriched the entire Huron
County community. Its suc-
cess would have positioned
us - ahead of time - for the
transformation in the way
we communicate and do our
personal, private sector and
public business.
The relationship between
this kind of initiative and its
impact on the local economy
is self-evident.
This error of omission by
municipal government is
but one of seven other
deadly sins, on my personal
list of what our new munic-
ipal councils ought to
examine. There are errors
of "omission", but also of
"commission."
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