MOOSE JAW, Sask. – The more people leave rural Saskatchewan, the more the characteristics that distinguish them as rural people will change.
That worries Lynda Haverstock.
The farm stress counselor, and former Saskatchewan Liberal leader, said rural people are defined by a certain set of values, including work ethic, honesty, integrity and compassion.
She said there is a reason more diplomats per capita come from Sask-atchewan.
“It’s completely attributable to the values that we have as people,” she told a conference.
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“With the continuing demise of rural Canada and extraordinary shift away from a rural economy … what we in fact are going to do is change our characteristics.”
Haverstock said shipping high school students to larger centres a big mistake. The students lose their sense of identity and the closeness they had in smaller centres.
“If we truly value certain characteristics, it’s incumbent upon us to do something,” she said.
That means developing policies and production systems to deal with agricultural extremes and stem the flow of people off the farm, she said.
Haverstock added that solutions will not come from Ottawa.
“There is no place where there is one strong agricultural voice. You have to decide whether there is something you care to do about it.”
