NWO is a great place to live!

Ken Boshcoff M.P.
Thunder Bay-Rainy River

We know why we love living here.
It is safe. It is clean. We are close to nature. You can see your friends and family whenever you want to – in the Greater Toronto Area and other large cities people have to plan weeks ahead to do what we take for granted. We have a sense of community. We have also been given the asset of time that congestion and gridlock have taken from our southern friends.
If we sat down and wrote out an inventory of assets, we would see that our liabilities can be balanced.
This is your hometown. With passion and compassion we can overcome any problem. It will take leadership, courage, boldness, persistence and confidence.
In a recent article a visitor to our area, Steve Demmings, hit the nail on the head “The global economy will not come to any community forced with corporate closures…(We) must seize the opportunities being offered by a global marketplace. In an Internet world, remoteness does not play a role in economic development and it no longer hinders the future. The creation of a skilled labour pool focused on fulfilling the needs of international business in an option open to all communities.”
He summarizes by identifying the key which is “The critical ingredient required for the future is dynamic leadership that possesses community vision.”

We need ALL our elected representatives to sing from the same songbook. The Northwest must send focused messages on its priorities to Ottawa and Queen’s Park. Without political partnerships we will not succeed. I say this emphatically to convince all that we need the help of our First Nations and Métis leaders. Just look at the success of the Medical School. It was not until the Aboriginal communities joined the municipalities that we convinced the government of the day to build a full medical school at our Lakehead University.
Elected leaders need the full support of their communities to convince the public servants in the capitals of the urgency of our needs. We need ambassadors, champions, promoters, fans, boosters and idea-people. We need these community-minded folks to have zest, faith, caring and belief in a prosperous future.
I am absolutely convinced that we must take as our operating philosophy that we become self-reliant and self-nurturing. We must first and foremost support each other.