Re: Community decline (was gas sniffing, etc)

[Ed Weick]

Karen, thanks for the piece on rural decline in the US.  Several parts of agricultural Canada are in no better shape.  Increasingly, it does seem that rural areas are dependent for their income on transfers from urban/industrial centres, and not on what they can produce themselves.  There remains a mystique about the rural way of life and the family farm, but even that is beginning to wear thin with the growing recognition that many farms are probably no longer viable unless they are heavily subsidized or supported by special marketing arrangements.   Regards, Ed Ed Weick 577 Melbourne Ave. Ottawa, ON, K2A 1W7 Canada Phone (613) 728 4630 Fax     (613)  728 9382