Good News!

Last year when I started this blog I talked about living in a town under siege. Well the Siege has (temporarily at least) been lifted:

A new natural gas pipeline through the city of Thunder Bay has been cancelled as part of the Ontario government announcement Tuesday to shelve plans to close the province's coal-fired generating stations.
Energy Minister Dwight Duncan confirmed that the region's power plants will continue to operate "as is" for the foreseeable future. "Atikokan and Thunder Bay will stay open and continue to operate with coal," Duncan told The Chronicle-Journal.

Most certainly this is good news. But I hope that people won't lose focus now. Over the last year a LOT of effort has been put into finding ways to grow/broaden the town's economic base. My fear is that now citizens and government will say "whew, the crisis has passed" and stop working to make those new ideas come to fruition. That would be a shame.

Eventually the generating station will close. Eventually the mills in this area will close. Wouldn't we be better off to expand now so that we are better able to absorb those hits when they come? I know there are people in town who share that belief. Hopefully they will carry the day.

Medieval cities knew that even while you celebrated the besiegers packing up and going home, you had to get ready for the next attack. Some things remain the same. Celebrate yes, but keep strengthening for what may come in a few years.