Here't the text of my editorial as it appeared in the July 14th edition of the King's County Record.
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Most recent population data shows that New Brunswick is the
fastest shrinking province in Canada.
Compound this fact with the province’s increasing
urbanization, and uncertainty forebodes Sussex’ future. Economic geography
cannot be ignored if Sussex is to stand the test of time.
Two indisputable facts from economic geography need to
underscore Sussex’ approach to social planning. First, indefinite existence is
the primary goal of all politics. Second, people, not money, are the basis of
economies. The movement of people is of particular interest to planning
efforts. We must concern ourselves with how Sussex can retain and recruit
citizens that will sustain a healthy community for the foreseeable future. To
address this concern, we must consider the area’s specific push and pull
factors, which encourage departure from and immigration to the community
respectively.
Unfortunately, intolerance is an easily observable push
factor in Sussex. Since the 1990’s release of Richard Florida’s paradigm-shifting
Cities and the Creative Class, diversity has been understood as an indicator of
economic strength. Heeding this wisdom, municipal, provincial, and federal laws
have been rewritten to encourage the free expression of difference and
diversity, but Sussex has been slow to meaningfully adopt this cultural shift.
Sussex is place where the discouragement of difference and diversity is too
common.
By no means is Reverend Phillip Hutchings unique in his
behaviour - his antics serve as the perfect case study to illustrate the impact
of extreme opinion on a community. Hutchings gained national attention for posting
misogynist musings about breasties, selfies that prominently feature women’s
beasts, on Facebook. Most recently, Hutchings audaciously took to Facebook the
day of Toronto’s Annual Pride Parade to celebrate the conversion of a queer
congregation member, who through religious practice found their way to
heterosexuality. When Sussex’s presence in mainstream and social media
articulates the town as unwelcoming to women and queer people, diversity and
difference are actively discouraged. This representation of the area acts as a
push factor for our youth and as a barrier for those considering moving here.
The phenomenon of brain drain plagues the entire province,
but rural areas are the hardest hit. Our best home-grown talent flows west for
the white collar jobs in Ontario and Quebec and skilled labour positions in
Alberta. Our youth grow wings instead of roots, while intolerance salts our
earth.
This trend must not go unchallenged. While we can’t
manipulate job prospects to prevent or reverse brain drain, we can create a
more inclusive culture in Sussex. If Sussex is to survive, we need to take
meaningful steps to make the community more inclusive of diversity and
difference. Among these steps: reconsidering how intolerant leadership is
supported and celebrated, making time for teaching and learning about diversity
in the community, not just in schools, breaking the stigma of mental illness
and addiction, and embracing a live and let live ethos. Maritimers are
recognized nationally for our kindness, and it’s time that we embrace that
label of kindness as a political mandate to build a more inclusive Sussex.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Just in case you're curious about newspaper editing, here's the original text submission. Only one paragraph really got edited. The edits seem to have made the highlighted paragraph both more and less incendiary. My zinger "Sussex' most famous purveyor of intolerance" got deleted, but the editors went ahead and rewrote Hutching's intolerant behaviour as "extreme opinion". The article wasn't about extreme opinion; it was about intolerance. For the record, I hold several (arguably) extreme opinions, they just aren't problematic. (Ex. free university, legalization of all recreational drugs, abolition of public institutions of binary gender)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Most recent population data shows that New Brunswick is the
fastest shrinking province in Canada. Compound this fact with the province’s
increasing urbanization, and uncertainty forebodes Sussex’ future. Economic
geography cannot be ignored if Sussex is to stand the test of time.
Two indisputable facts from economic geography need to
underscore Sussex’ approach to social planning. First, indefinite existence is
the primary goal of all politics. Second, people, not money, are the basis of
economies. The movement of people is of particular interest to planning
efforts. We must concern ourselves with how Sussex can retain and recruit
citizens that will sustain a healthy community for the foreseeable future. To
address this concern, we must consider the area’s specific push and pull
factors, which encourage departure from and immigration to the community
respectively.
Unfortunately, intolerance is an easily observable push
factor in Sussex. Since the 1990’s release of Richard Florida’s paradigm-shifting
Cities and the Creative Class,
diversity has been understood as an indicator of economic strength. Heeding
this wisdom, municipal, provincial, and federal laws have been rewritten to
encourage the free expression of difference and diversity, but Sussex has been
slow to meaningfully adopt this cultural shift. Sussex is place where the
discouragement of difference and diversity is too common.
By no means is Reverend Phillip Hutchings unique in his
behaviour but as Sussex’s most famous purveyor of intolerance, his antics serve
as the perfect case study to illustrate intolerance as a push factor. Hutchings
gained national attention for posting misogynist musings about breasties,
selfies that prominently feature women’s beasts, on Facebook. Most recently,
Hutchings audaciously took to Facebook the day of Toronto’s Annual Pride Parade
to celebrate the conversion of a queer congregation member, who through
religious practice found their way to heterosexuality.
When Sussex’ presence in mainstream and social media
articulates the town as unwelcoming to women and queer people, diversity and
difference are actively discouraged. This representation of the area acts as a
push factor for our youth and as a barrier for those considering moving here.
The phenomenon of brain drain plagues the entire province,
but rural areas are the hardest hit. Our best home-grown talent flows west for
the white collar jobs in Ontario and Quebec and skilled labour positions in
Alberta. Our youth grow wings instead of roots, while intolerance salts our
earth.
This trend must not go unchallenged. While we can’t
manipulate job prospects to prevent or reverse brain drain, we can create a
more inclusive culture in Sussex. If Sussex is to survive, we need to take
meaningful steps to make the community more inclusive of diversity and
difference. Among these steps: reconsidering how intolerant leadership is
supported and celebrated, making time for teaching and learning about diversity
in the community, not just in schools, breaking the stigma of mental illness
and addiction, and embracing a live and let live ethos. Maritimers are
recognized nationally for our kindness, and it’s time that we embrace that
label of kindness as a political mandate to build a more inclusive Sussex.
