By Jon Farmer
A couple of weeks ago, when our city's name could be found in news articles around the world, I asked my Owen Sound friends a question over Facebook. I wanted to know why we leave, stay, and come back to our city. The responses were typical of small towns across Canada. We leave for education and work, we stay away when the work and lifestyles we aspire to can only be found in different places, and we come back for love of people and place. As much as Owen Sound's latest tag line -- "where you want to live" -- has been ridiculed, there's truth in it but we need to ask why exactly that is before we can spread the word.
Statistically, I shouldn't be here at this point in my life. Census data shows that Canadians in their twenties migrate towards larger urban centres. This isn't surprising. I and many of my friends had to move away from Owen Sound to pursue higher education. After graduating, if we wanted to put our newly minted certificates and degrees to use, we often had to stay where there was work.
When I conducted my (totally unscientific) Facebook poll, most of the people who responded said that they came back because of their local connections. Family is important and when our wider social networks remain rooted in place, we can't help but come back. One friend wrote that, "I think more than any other reason, I currently live in Grey county in particular because both my sisters and my parents live here. If they lived elsewhere I would be more inclined to live closer to them." If you've ever been to the Pub on a Boxing Day you've seen the power of those relationships first hand. The bar is full of former-locals who might only visit once or twice a year. We mingle and catch up with people we've known for most of our lives and when the holidays are over most of them leave, going back to the communities that support their daily lives now. I don't mean to emphasize their departure, rather it's telling that so many people continue to 'come home' for the holidays.
Social connections are a huge pull factor and so is lifestyle. In Owen Sound, we escape the claustrophobic urban density of larger centres. Those of us with happy relationships to the lakes, hills, and fields of this area can't help but miss them when we leave. Owen Sound has an incredible variety of possibilities for recreation both cultural and outdoors. We even treat local festivals like personal holidays, coming back for Summerfolk, the Salmon Spectacular, or the Emancipation Festival. It's not that Owen Sound is more beautiful than anywhere else but it's like parenthood. You know that all babies are essentially the same but you love yours because it's yours.
If so many people are connected to the people and spaces of our city and county – why do we stay away? Many friends cite personal and economic growth as the strongest push factors. After a few years of school we connect with new people and new places, hopefully falling in love with a profession and finding passions to pursue. Unfortunately, Owen Sound and area simply do not support many contemporary career aspirations. When I moved back to town, the friends who greeted me primarily worked in healthcare, education, or the service industries that drive our local economy. There are jobs here but friends with engineering degrees, skilled trades, or more specific vocations have a hard time finding entry level work. Compare local wages and the availability of entry level positions to those in larger centres and it's hard for Owen Sound to compete.
Despite the challenges, people still want to come back and they try to make it work. As a community - and a municipality - we need to figure out how we can create opportunities for people who already want to be here. Owen Sound has traditionally struggled to attract newcomers to our area. It's a well-known rule of business, however, that it's easier to retain customers than attract new ones. The question then, is how do we create a welcoming environment for the professionals who want to come home?
The municipal election last fall proved that we consider the city's economic health an important issue. As council prepared this year's budget it was painfully clear that there was nowhere near enough money to go around. City budgets increase in one of two ways: 1) increase taxes for the people here 2) increase the number of people here. The city claims to be pursuing development and council has even reduced development costs to attract investors. They are not the first council to try this. It has never had a dramatic effect and rather than rehash an old strategy I think it's time for creative solutions. Let's concentrate on the characteristics that we love about our community and strengthen the factors pulling people home. As we plan for our future, rather than assume that every investment is equally valuable let's develop our relationships with the people who are already emotionally invested in Owen Sound.
