We live in a democracy whereby the majority has the power to make decisions that are binding upon the whole. What we sometimes forget is that it is a constitutional democracy with majority rule and minority rights. People agree to abide by decisions of the majority, but there are effective…

O Canada: it’s time to get serious about scrutiny — Have you ever been an anti-candidate voter? Someone who doesn’t want to see one party in power so you vote for another party solely to block them? Voting “against” instead of “for” something is really unsatisfying for an optimist. …

Employees, Profits and the Nature of Work — A few months ago, thought-leader and founder of Basecamp, Jason Fried, made some controversial announcements about his new company direction, which led to much discussion about the nature of work. He quoted Huxley, “We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances…

You’re up! This is what you’ve been practicing for.

Rural/Urban Mobility For rural communities, dealing with youth migration to cities has been like taking a spoonful of penicillin; we just plugged our noses and swallowed. …

A New “old” Call to Action Women and children first. We’ve all heard this line in movies; it’s called the “motto of the sea” and it’s a code of conduct dating back to 1852, meant to protect the most vulnerable in a dire situation. Where women were considered the most…

Rural on Purpose started with a manifesto — not a business plan, not a political platform and not a funding application. A clear manifesto. I’ve worked in all three sectors (public, private and nonprofit). I understand each perspective and value proposition. But I wanted to work on solving problems in…

Is it time to stop using the terms “top-down” and “bottom-up” altogether in our community building discussions? When we use these terms, we are typically proposing a reversal of a strategy that sees “experts” or people in positions of power dictating and directing development of some kind. …

Just like that, rural communities have gone from being uninteresting and irrelevant, with headlines and editorials only a year ago proposing “community closure schemes,” to headlines today predicting a “rural boom” and the “de-urbanization” of entire countries. The pandemic has resulted in a crystallization of urban discontent. Safety, space, balance…