THE RURBAN FRINGE

Is Civic Engagement a Dying Dream?

I live in a decidedly rurban area due east of Calgary, Alberta, in one of the fastest growing urban areas in Canada.  My community – like many others across the West – still holds strong ties to an agricultural past and has really only had to deal with the effects of rapid urban growth within the past [...]

Wanted: A New Vision for First Nations

“Clearly, the vision of governance and shared community life of First Nations is not working.
Fortunately, some indigenous communities aren’t prepared to wait for Ottawa to provide an alternate vision.”
Joseph Quesnel
An intriguing article by Joseph Quesnel, a policy analyst with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, where he writes mainly about aboriginal and property rights issues.
Click here [...]

Women Needed To Help Shape Strong Public Policy

According to a recent statistic … if women business owners were their own country, they would be the 5th largest GDP in the world.* 
The finer points of this statement are somewhat debatable, I’m sure, but it raises an interesting point … if women are such a force to be reckoned with, how can we bring them into fuller [...]

Making A Case for A New Definition of ‘Rural’

A recent editorial in the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine reminded me why I began this blog, and makes a case for a new definition of ‘rural’ to aid policy planning, most notably for health and medical services.
“Since 1994, Australia has had five levels of “rural” that have been defined for purposes of policy planning.  In Canada, we don’t [...]

Industry Canada Connectivity Funding

How timely … just when rural connectivity was on my mind, the federal government announces a call-for-applications for their Broadband Canada:  Connecting Rural Canadians program. 
This program is looking for applications that will provide service to as many unserved and underserved Canadians as possible, allowing them to more fully participate in the digital economy by encouraging [...]

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