cktimes.ca Archives for Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Reflections on Chatham-Kent's failed Brose bid
Tuesday, April 1, 2003
There was a rather interesting local news story this past week that, on the surface, may not appear that closely related to the arts, heritage and culture scene but, upon careful reflection, we feel that they have a crucial and integral relationship.You may have heard this week that, according to most reports, Chatham-Kent came "a close second" in securing an 81 million dollar automotiveñmanufacturing plant that was to be situated in the new Hwy #401 Bloomfield Business Park.
Unfortunately, Chatham-Kent lost out to London even though CK officials demonstrated to the Brose people that they would save a million dollars a year by locating in Chatham-Kent.
Brose officials explained their choice by stating that Chatham-Kent came up short in such areas as "....health care, education and access to amenities". It seems, therefore, quite obvious that if we want to attract other industries to C-K, we need to do some serious thinking and take a progressive look at our situation and do something about it in the very near future. After all, there must be something quite obviously lacking in Chatham-Kent if Brose is willing to forfeit a million dollars every year!
Yes.....we finally have a Bloomfield Business Park. It is, of course, a bit late (forty years too late) but.....at least we have one now and that is a "progressive" sign.
Health care is a problem all over Ontario, thanks to the current provincial government, but certainly London, because of its previous health care position, has a world-class hospital and medical practitioners and we would be very hard-pressed to ever equal that level.
So.....we need to look at the other concerns. Education was another one cited. While most people sit idly by and watch more C-K schools close every year, our whole educational situation worsens. We have seemingly, very cheerfully, embraced the theory that big is better and small schools, which in educational study after educational study have proven to be more desirable in every area, have virtually become obsolete in the local public and separate systems. In the absence of small private secondary schools in Chatham-Kent, there are very few alternative choices and, as a result, those people fed up with the local educational system must send their children to another city ÖLondon for example!
Unfortunately, when Chatham-Kent's oldest school, and one of its smallest, in the heart of its largest inner city area was in danger of closing, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent stood idly by (for not only one year but two) and let it face closure! Citing that education was not their jurisdiction, the Municipal Council chose to do nothing. Unfortunately, it seems that the Brose corporation did not share this view .
Our Thames Campus is a good start and has all sorts of potential but needs encouragement and, most of all, our support for new programs. Thames Campus is currently pursuing a new Arts program that could greatly enhance the scope of the curriculum at the Chatham-Kent campus. It is also pursuing a residence that would serve to attract many new students to Chatham-Kent and some of those students would likely continue to live here after graduation....if there were jobs!
In the area of "access to amenities", Chatham-Kent seems to fare rather well in the area of recreational facilities and with the advent of the new sports facilities on the campus of Chatham Kent Secondary School those areas seem to be headed in the right direction.
However, in the area of arts, culture and heritage we need to be much more supportive, creative and forward thinking. If there were any residents of Chatham-Kent who did not support the development of the Capital Theatre before, I would hope that the recent comments from the Brose people would go a long ways to rapidly and conclusively change their minds.
As we have said before in this column, and countless other times in other forums, arts, heritage and culture are essential and integral to the quality of life and there are, unfortunately, way too many people in Chatham-Kent who do not understand that point. We must eradicate that backward, anti-intellectual and uninformed philosophy that permeates a segment of our local population and actively support, promote and pursue arts, heritage and culture activities that will serve to enhance our entire community and make it into a much more attractive place to live and work. We must also work to impress upon our municipal elected officials that we wish them to think the same way.
If Chatham-Kent does not come to these realizations and take some positive and definite actions, the Brose people will not be the only people who politely say to Chatham-Kent...."thanks but no thanks"!
Jim and Lisa Gilbert are local, national and international award winning educators and historians.
