In 1984, I picked up a book called “Megatrends", by John Naisbitt, a consultant for Kodak, IBM, At&T and the White House. Sixty weeks on the New York Times best seller list, “Ten new directions transforming our lives.” "A road map to the 21st. Century,"accolades from a broad cross section of businesses in North America.
But the two big things I learned from it were;
1) The trends that change society do not come from major centres, only fads do. Real change comes from rural economies, where independent, innovative thinkers will invent, market or make a trend which changes society permanently. A lot of things get started in a garage, like Apple Computers. In a rural economy, families may, in practice, have several entrepreneurial ventures going on at one time. Wrongfully accused of "being a seasonal work force, “ this misconception is insulting to say the least. People, for e.g.. in Cheticamp may have a fishing license, own a few cabin rental units, mom may run an attached restaurant and the family may haul pulp to Port Hawkesbury as well. Keeping a mixed economy of multi task ( Small & Medium Enterprises ) SME’s, is a constant job of keeping equipment prepared for the seasons, whatever the activity. Lobster traps don’t mend themselves, knowing to maintenance your equipment and learn new technology is a constant, to gain efficiency is paramount. Bringing in technicians from Halifax or Toronto can cost thousands of dollars and travel time adds to the expense, so you learn to do it yourself.
2) Secondly, it is imperative to invest in rural economies. If you neglect the rim on the wagon wheel, eventually it deteriorates, then the spokes go and you are left with a hub going nowhere. Maintain the rim, keep it sure and functioning and the spokes will return the benefit to the hub. If Nova Scotia is a city of 1 million people, 550 miles long and 110 miles wide, Halifax being the hub, we must be very cognizant of the "Centralist Thinking Disease" that has inflicted our governments, at all levels, over the last three decades. In their frenzy to reduce costs, they miss the benefits of investment in rural economies, because we are now run by statisticians not accountants, we are in fact in the middle of the “Data Capitalist Society” where every service we or item we buy is determined by a bell curve to logarithm.
They tell government that these people out here on the edges of the bell curve are too costly to service, and so, we must discourage them from living there, leave their communities and move into the centres! I recall being on an elevator in Toronto as two young college students got on and began to discuss the decisions they were making based on bell curve data, I skipped my floor just to listen to them. They were fresh on Bay Street and anxious to analyze and impress someone to make sure those people out on the edge of that bell curve were not to be considered as the Board of Directors can simply not get the returns they desire for their shareholders. So, don’t expect big business or government to be concerned about the rural economy of the province, health care, education or investment in our community. We, in Cape Breton are just too far out on the rim of the bell curve, and they have to keep the money in Halifax or Bay Street at all costs.
Cape Breton supplied 75% of Canada’s steel & coal, both used in Canada and exported to the UK for the World Wars! One would think this contribution to the free world and the men and women who gave their lives in these very dangerous industries would receive some recognition for their efforts. But resulted instead, in three decades of negative media misinformation of Cape Breton and its work force.
Mr. Don Mills article in the Herald , advisor to government as a statistician, is indicative of the centralist thinking that chooses to look down on and justifies to politicians who head up parties to curry the favour of the people in the hub, to the detriment of the rural communities in the guise of cutting costs to return benefits to tax payers. This flawed thinking is going on as we speak and will continue until some enlightenment takes place. A significant social event takes place that wakes up politicians to understand that we all, including the hub, will have a more robust economy when we realize we must share and allow our citizens, regardless of what part of the province we are more than anxiouxs to see the leadership we require to succeed as a whole and not just for a few.
Megatrends, just as relevant today as it was in 1984.
John Morrison, CEO
Quality Cameras & Computer Services Ltd.,
245 George Street
Sydney Nova Scotia
B1P 1J5
902-562-3600
Fotosource Canada
Apple Authorized Service Provider
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