First off, northern B.C. is defined by most academics as the area of the province north of 100 Mile House. It seems a bit of a stretch to put the southern Cariboo as part of northern B.C. but it is more about the “hinterland” feel than the geographic north-ness of a place. Long story short, it must be confusing to live in 100 mile house, do I grow cherries? Do I advertise dog sledding as part of my heritage? Questions no municipality should have to answer.
1)Diversification
2)Community Economic Development
3)Changing Ideas of Space
Diversification
This is a real buzzword for rural resource communities. Since we have logged the shit out of most of the province we have lately been scrambling to find other ways to bring jobs to these one resource towns. I’m going to debunk a rural myth here and say that diversification does not necessarily lead to economic growth. Research shows that specialization in a particular industry can be just as successful as diversifying and that in the end neither are the economic fountain of youth. It makes sense that we go the diversity route, it’s a reaction to to the plain oatmeal industry that used to dominate the region.
Community Economic Development
Community Economic Development refers to the number of organizations that have sprung up across northern B.C. in the last couple decades to try and promote growth and investment. Economic development commissions and other organizations are strategizing across the region, with first nations, with Chinese investors, even with oil movers. This is a massive shift from earlier methods of enticing people to the region, which went something like this
Companies: Wow look at all these trees and fish
Northern B.C.: I know, you should come and kill lots of them.
Those were simpler times, now communities are faced with the difficulty of trying to be friends with each other in order to bring prosperity to the whole region. No longer can we say that such and such town are a bunch of hicks, that down the road they stink like fish, and that those guys are a bunch of bible thumpers. Sure we still say those things under our breath, but we smile and shake hands and collaborate now. Desperate times indeed.
Changing Ideas of Space
The most interesting to me. Communication and transportation of goods happens with more ease than ever before - and rural B.C. is struggling to keep up. The general consensus is that we haven’t had a good infrastructure improvement plan since the days of W.A.C. Bennett (premier from 1950-1972). The technology is there for us to take advantage of, but it’s harder to put in across greater distances. This is where we directly compete with cities, and it’s why the container port was a good thing. It’s why we need to get power along highway 37 north. This is also why Telus’ announcement of upgrades to their system in Northern B.C. doesn’t just mean we will now be able to hate Telus in more places than ever before. Finally, this is also why it’s almost worth trying to elect Michael Ignatieff because of his vague promise to have a divided highway right across the country.
These three things are the biggest indicators I found of change brought on by globalization in rural B.C. If there is a focus on making all of them work coupled with a consciousness that we are not immune to the state of the world economy, things will get better, and in many cases they already are. Certainly we’ll never be what we were, we’re no longer just a bunch of noble savages wailing on primary industry, we have to be open to change, even if that means not calling the town up the road a bunch of trailer trash slednecks.