Looking hard at life here

We have to take a long, lingering look at where we're going as a region and society.

We've long been told we would have to look at our manufacturing and commodity processing sectors’ competitiveness. In reality, we have to look at a hell of a lot more.

Because of a number of factors - global market competition, long-term centralization and, no doubt, greed - our economy here in Nova Scotia, including the Valley, has been under serious attack.

First, we get the news the 50-year-old Maple Leaf poultry processing plant in Canard is closing, then Trenton Industries and then Moirs Chocolates. Some 2,000 well-paying jobs lost. It's beyond belief.

Pro-rated, the 2,000 good jobs we've lost so far this year would translate into more than 20,000 in Ontario.

Can you imagine what a political fracas that would cause?

Those industries have been part of our economy and society so long, they’re living entities within their respective communities.

What has passed as free trade has worked well for many sectors, but we're learning there is a price as “free trade” expands.

I would suggest those closed facilities be kept up, and we adopt new federal standards legislation. Because standards have to be kept and monitored, every rail car that's imported should be stripped down to the nuts and bolts and inspected, piece-by-piece, to ensure quality and safety. Where would the best place to do that very task be? Why, Trenton, of course. Foreign Minister Peter MacKay should be making the announcement at the plant, as soon as he can persuade the prime minister and House of Commons to pass the necessary legislation.

The same goes for every chocolate coming into Canada outside the Canada-U.S. economic sphere. They should all be inspected and reboxed in this country - at the Moirs plant. Every chocolate and macaroon.

At Canard, every drumstick and wing.

These instances are, of course, health and safety measures and can't be quibbled with. No NAFTA, GATT, WTO or whatever other jumble of letters can mess with health and safety considerations.

I hope.

Then we'd see just how competitive some of these corporations would find off-shore manufacturing.

It's not that we need fewer steel, poultry or chocolate products. We need more.

A country that can't or won't feed itself is like a country that can't or won't defend itself. It's not a country.

It's all part of not being able to see the big picture. Maybe it's more than just a little greed.

It's driving our population away. Probably a large percentage of the 2,000 people losing their jobs in Canard, Trenton or Dartmouth will find work in Alberta. These are tradespeople and skilled workers who were collecting good wages to support their families.

As it is, much of our population has already entered the long-time, on-going Babylonian Captivity in other parts of the continent. This affects everything here, from family incomes, social services, general health and even educational motivation of young people.

Our kids aren't achieving the highest marks in schools continent wide - though being a traditional society, we should be better placed than many to do so. Part of it could be a lack of pride in what has essentially been a society and economy in decline. If a young person is ambitious academically or mechanically, it's often in order to get the hell out - to Alberta, for example.

We are in a socio-economic crisis in this province. It's more than an agricultural crisis, though that is a major part of it. We need new or reinvigorated leadership at so many levels to make things right - at least from our viewpoint.