The Price of Inaction

A Tale of Two Cities? The Lion and the Ghost?
What title can describe the completely different approaches taken by two small towns separated by a couple mountains, and the results of those approaches?
Mackenzie, a town that made sure to scream whenever it was pinched and is represented by a mainstay of the BC Liberal party, and Fort St. James which approached things with a "we're tough, we can handle this" stiff upper lip and represented by a Liberal newbie in a riding with a history of representatives who shot their mouths off before engaging their brain and paid the price, so has chosen to exist like a ghost on the backbench.
As some of us pointed out a few months back when Global TV ran a special on our town, the "we're coping; we're allright, Jack" portrayal ran the risk of viewers getting the idea that we don't need their help, we're just fine. And that's exactly what panned out!
Have a read here about the suffering of communities, workers and suppliers as Harmac and Mackenzie Pulp wind down their operations and note how P&Ts Fort St. James operation is not even mentioned.
We know all about the spin-off effects. Suppliers, truckers, retailers have already issued their own layoffs in answer to the reduced demand. Restaurants and pubs have become Dead Zones. Admit it, you yourself must have gone for dinner or a glass of draught and wondered "How can this place even stay open?" lately. Every small business remaining is bleeding openly, a drain on the owners pocketbook.
I wish there was a solution to offer. It's ten years too late to think a "shop local" campaign is going to be much help, because every closed shop from Burns Lake to here and Vanderhoof proves that even with $1.25 a litre gas, people won't.
The same $1.25 gas that's going to make it very hard to see tourism as any sort of salvation, or any form of secondary manufacturing because of delivery and supply costs. Add to the mix that the sale of BC Rail has come back to bite us in the arse, you can ask around and discover it's not worth CN's time to send trains here anymore, so how do we ship out anything while any possible new interim industry fires up?
We are entering very hard times, and as the locals have been bled out the only hope is to somehow attract outside investment into our community. As mentioned in the first paragraphs, screaming Blue Bloody Murder is how to get noticed in the first place. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, Mackenzie knows that!

As a community, we need to pull together and clean up this disgrace so after we scream and the investors arrive, they don't immediately leave in total disgust.
A free semi filled with paint and brooms from Victoria for the shopkeepers and homeowners.
A grant of money and immediate designation of somewhere outside of town as an alcohol and drug treatment facility.
A visit from the 1990s version of Gordon Campbell to stand in on a soapbox and say "We're allowing mining because we need the jobs, so STFU and bring your concerns to me and they'll be dealt with."
A zero tolerance by police and citizens towards drunkenness and drug induced behaviours. Scribble on one of the nicely painted walls? You spend 2 weeks sweeping the street and washing windows and your name goes in the paper so the whole town makes sure you do your punishment. Pass out in the middle of the street at noon? No more Christian "Oh you poor person", you're in the bunwagon dropped off at the treatment center, free to choose to sign yourself in or walk back home. Name in the paper: citizens have the right to know that not only were they put at risk, but that this particular person was so stupid they admitted to the cops they were high on crack and at the wheel.
That might be a start to turning things around....