Here is why Council needs to be courting the established/existing jobs/businesses in Melancthon, like salvage yards, home based businesses, including and particularly the farming operations:
"Research and anecdotal evidence has shown that the majority of new jobs created come from existing businesses. David Birch, MIT, in his study “Jobs Created in America”, identifies that 40-80% of new jobs created come from existing businesses. There are 300 large multinational investments worldwide made by companies annually. There are 30,000 organizations in North America alone competing for these 300 projects."
So in layman terms, if Melancthon wants to work on the economic development of Melancthon, they need to know that the days of attracting Honda plants are LONG gone. Look after what is already here.
A quick and easily affordable first step is affordable and widespread high speed. It is not a luxury, it isn't just for kids to play internet games and people to look at porn. Highspeed is as necessary now to economic development as having hydro was for economic development in the early 1900's.
On the other hand, aggregate does NOT create sustainable jobs. When the hole is dug and emptied, slowly left to fill with water over several decades, the low paying non-local jobs are gone too. And when the only jobs are driving a truck, these people are NOT stopping to fill up with gas, shop at the local stores or take part in the community in any way shape or form.
Aggregate also does NOT attract people to live in the area who work in the knowledge sector. Those are the jobs where you could work from home IF you had high speed and IF you didn't have a train and 70 gravel trucks a minute past your door and IF you weren't worried about your water supply. (Writers, lawyers, insurance brokers, researchers, sometimes referred to as the "creative class")
The agricultural sector is cyclical and there are busy times and not so busy times, but these people live in the community and take part in the community, the churches, volunteering, the community, etc.
The creative class, with high speed, no longer have to commute long distances to the large urban areas to work and therefore use that time to volunteer and get involved in the community.
A good mix of sustainable agricultural jobs, which gives rise to the feed mills, repair shops, welding shops, gas stations, restaurants, and the creative class leads to a financially and generationally diverse and balanced community that is "sustainable".
You just wrote a mouthful there Minebuster, especially with the frightening Marketing Dufferin "initiative" at work and conceived of by the Greater Dufferin Area Chamber of Commerce that aims to attract more "business as usual" but clearly not sustainable or fake sustainable corporate industry to our entire area (using a crumby out moded marketing model, I'll add, perhaps thankfully) and that, even in the absence of any economic plan, committee or history of discussion there of in Melancthon as we are at the very least entitled to under the Municipal Act, is being spearheaded by our Mayor who has sat for years and continues to sit on the Shelburne Economic Development Committee, a committee of THAT municipality and it's agenda, and the GDACC which historically and currently has executive members who as Mayors or Deputy Mayors of municipalities within Dufferin County sit on County Council and which does little jobs like "hosting" all candidates' meetings at all political levels amongst other chores of influence. The machine at work is not interested in sustainability and long term well being but, rather, in artificial economic expansion and getting as much as possible for "itself" as the end game approaches. People, overwhelmingly, sense that something is afoot and yet they don't know the details or acquiesce because of their own burdens. It is time to insist that we will not play this game to it's disastrous conclusion. As our collective voice our elected officials must do what they were so recently entrusted to do by the mere act of running as a candidate... speak up and, if you are unable to do so, give the job to others who are more grown up!
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