This morning, Heather and I attended a rally on ‘Save the Library’. It was held outside MLA David Bowlby’s constituency office on the corner of Bridge Street and Highway #1, next to the Needs store in Middleton (see Hollowing Out of Rural Nova Scotia). The attendance was high with placards on the need to keep libraries open in the Valley.
We arrived early and had a chance to speak briefly to a member of Bowlby’s team about the finances of the Valley Regional Library and the contributions from the different municipal units. The MLA did not step outside and address the crowd. We left after about an hour with a sense that the residents fully understand and appreciate the importance of libraries in rural Nova Scotia.
The event did raise a number of other questions about the viability of small towns in the Valley — Middleton, Lawrencetown, for example. On Middleton’s Main Street there are many vacant store fronts. What is the role of the town, county, province in guaranteeing and defining ‘essential services’? Do we have a viable financial model?
It is somewhat encouraging that the municipality is hosting citizen forums.
From the rally, it appears that citizens who choose to live in rural Nova Scotia do have a strong sense of ‘essential services’ and are prepared to make sure that Middleton, ‘Heart of the Valley’, remains healthy and engaged.
I look forward to seeing the media coverage, given this type of ‘grass roots’ rally, and the response, from our politicians, at all levels of government. At the end of the day, it is all about the money, engagement of the citizens, and the structure and priorities of the political system in rural Nova Scotia.
Ernest Blair Experiment 