November 1st, 2007 was the publication of my second St. Catharines Standard Niagara Voices column. In it, I revealed the source of my obsession and source of Regional Niagara's future prosperity.
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I am obsessed with our future prosperity. My obsession started with the 1996 receipt of a Canada Pension Statement of Contributions that accounted for nine years of employment before moving to Israel in 1979, two years after returning in 1990, and the one year I made enough to contribute.
Seeing the petty total caused me to consider my chances for greater affluence. I soon realized those chances depended on the restoration of prosperity to our city, region, and points beyond.
I was a twice divorced 44-year old father of three struggling with forced self-employment. Ongoing personal and financial storms had washed away savings and assets. Those circumstances and unstable job markets were part of a new North American norm.
My ability to make further payments to Canada Pension seemed increasingly unlikely. Niagara's shifting employment landscape made my finding and keeping gainful employment difficult, and while my credentials delighted potential employers, union-dictated wage levels presented formidable barriers.
Meanwhile, manufacturers were disappearing, taking with them full-time jobs, decent salaries and irreplaceable benefits. Tax-dependent public sector employers, such as governments and education institutions, were overtaking the private sector in number.
With optimistic scenarios hard to find, I, along with most Niagarans, was destined for even greater financial-and therefore social-hardship. Under the circumstances our children might want to help but their tending to our grandchildren could prove daunting enough. Even then, without viable opportunities in Niagara our children would probably move to places beyond the affordability of frequent visits.
That fear, and that by example I now struggled to earn enough to pay taxes, raised deeper concerns. As our population ages, our earning potential spirals downward and debt loads skyrocket. From where will governments collect sufficient taxes needed to provide essential services? Clearly our social and economic structures were already suffering, and yet to compensate for lost revenues our governments started feeding feverishly off social ills.
Smoking and drinking sin taxes aside, saturating lottery markets with casinos and slot machines could only increase pressure on already overwhelmed social services as families suffered the financial and social consequence.
Meanwhile, life-sustaining ecosystems, crippled by decades of industrial abuse, threatened our well-being.
Connecting each distressed aspect of North American life, I wondered how civil societies could possibly avoid impotent governments, civil unrest and tax revolts if things did not soon change? As a society, if we were failing to do what was right for our own sake, what legacies were we leaving our descendents?
In search of something more promising I first envisioned a revitalized Niagara. I then traced back over the steps taken to get us there. My obsessive journey took flight with the stunning revelations. The source of our renewed prosperity was kicking us in our hindsight.
Viewed through historical prisms, we stood at crossroads not unlike those our ancestors faced: Beginning with the late 19th century, the industrialization of horseless carriages altered the nature of life, work and travel. A hundred years later, over the course of that industrial age, life, work and travel had altered Nature herself.
At that crossroads, the industrial age from which Niagara had originally prospered, was coming to a bitter end; another was pointing towards restorations and new beginnings. Being neither socially, financially nor ecologically sustainable, global societies-ours included-would soon demand that all this "unsustainability" be corrected.
What I had foreseen is regional renewal occurred throughout our capitalist-driven society because we had dedicated all our resources toward resolving those sustainability imperatives.
Consider that creativity, innovation, job creation and productivity flow out from the entrepreneurial mantra to "find a need and fill it". New model industries devised to harness entrepreneurship in all its emerging forms, could even increase the pace at which our renewal occurs.
As one such inspirational idea followed another my obsession overtook me. I knew I had stumbled on to something urgently important but flipping hamburgers just to get by was not going to affect change. For legacies' sake, I had to do whatever I could to influence the directions in which our city and region were headed.
Eleven years later, despite our stubborn hold on outdated models, the winds of international change have intensified dramatically. Just as previous roads taken generated winners and losers, rewards are certain to befall communities determined to define and pioneer new directions. With a little foresight and enough guts to anticipate and focus on fulfilling societal demands for sustainability, Niagara's future prosperity could stem from leading that charge into the 21st century.
Then maybe my chances for greater affluence will improve along with that of my (grand)children's.
Bernie Slepkov is a community activist, council-watcher and observer/participant of the Smarter Niagara steering committee. He is a member of the Standard's community editorial board.
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