I'm attending a 'future of New Brunswick' seminar in a couple of weeks in Saint John - nothing to with e-learning, so it's not part of my official duties. But I've been reflecting on what makes a city like Edmonton work and why places like New Brunswick continue to struggle. It's easy to say "it's the oil" - but it's not the oil.
It seems to me that Rob Paterson captures it quite well in this presentation. New Brunswick is very similar to Prince Edward Island, the subject of his talk. He writes, "The issue has never been jobs or buildings but culture. Culture? Adventurous people create sustainable jobs not government. Buildings don't create sustainable jobs. Creative people create sustainable jobs. PEI works hard to marginalize those that are creative. This is I believe the heart of our problem."
I agree with him. And I believe it applies to New Brunswick. And if you look at the diagrams in Paterson's post, you'll see that they look like the diagrams in Cross's and Bond's items, below. And that they're about defining what it means to be a community. Forget the jobs, forget the economic development; that's a sucker's game.
Paterson writes, "Unless we can create an environment where creative people want to stay or come too, we will not make any progress." This is true for schools, it is true for companies, and it is true form communities. Until the people of New Brunswick learn to reach out, to embrace diversity, to tap into a creative culture (the culture it exports every June of every year) it will remain a hinterland. Build a society. Anyhow - today's theme is connectivity and community. Enjoy.
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