Feature Article February 27, 2002
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CommentaryIs it regulation, or strangulation?by Will CybulskiIn its recent report, the Resource Jump Team for the Land OLakes appears to have thrown more fuel on an already burning issue in this area. Representing the provincial Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, the team targeted three primary areas that it felt were deserving of immediate attention, with one of those being self-guided driving tours. Further on in its report, the team identified arts and artisans for other potential product development within our boundaries. In the Land OLakes area, those from the outside who would deign to tell us how to run our affairs create a paradox with that recommendation.
For a number of years, this region has hosted an annual Arts and Crafts tour the Mazinaw Country Studio Tour. We have some very talented artisans in our midst, but I doubt that any of them rely on the local tours sales as a sole means of keeping the wolf away from the door. One of the group summed it up quite succinctly in telling me, I enjoy what I do, and Im happy just to break even. When you add in the costs many of them absorb to give the event some out-of-town promotion, you might wonder why they bother. Well, I suspect that all of them are justifiably proud of their end product, which can only be appreciated for its creativity when shared with others. If anything, the arts and crafts people are doing the rest of us in this area a favour by attracting a few extra dollars spent on local fuel, food and accommodations by tour visitors.
However, the last studio tour held in this area saw its participants and patrons stymied by another provincial entity, that being the Ministry of Transportation. Right in the thick of things, our painters, woodcarvers, et al, saw their small attraction signs out front of their studios torn down by road maintenance workers. Instead of cutting the legs out from under our struggling artisans, the various ministries that seem so keen to be involved should get together. Maybe then ones policies and practices would positively reflect the others touted priorities? Kind of like the right hand knowing what the left hand is doing?
In a conversation I had some time ago with a MTO employee in charge of sign control, that person referred to Highway 41 in this area as bush highway. Still, it is well-nigh impossible to legally erect a directional sign, and billboards are prohibitively expensive; but it seems the loftier the political aspirations, the longer election signs stay up on the roadside. Operators of chip stands, and one of our areas long-standing attractions, blueberry concessions, are suddenly being ordered about over set-backs and permits. A neighbouring newspaper reported that the province was suddenly taking these Mom-and-Pop small businesses to task as a highway hazard. Some of these people rely on their seasonal sideline to pay their taxes, and others give our kids a first paying job.
Personally, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and others of their ilk didnt have to conduct their business along a bush highway.
