How Can We Halt the Demise of Canadas Peripheral Regions?
” by Mario Polse and Richard Shearmur Over the past few decades, Canadas peripheral regions have suffered a significant decline, losing jobs and population because of a combination of factors including increased world competition and increased productivity in the resource-based sector. Despite hopes to the contrary, the knowledge-based economy and the Internet have not reversed this trend. Location remains a decisive factor for those activities, and proximity to a metropolitan area is still key to competitiveness for most economic activities. The regions, the authors argue, are presently in a period of disequilibrium, and to help them find a new equilibrium a fundamental shift in the policy approach will be necessary. Rather than clinging to the mirage of employment and population growth, policy should focus on managing the population decline in these regions and ensuring that the population that does remain has adequate access to public services. download article (PDF) | return to ind
