From a recent letter to the editor in The Guardian from proto-nissologist David Weale:
Even more disturbing is the shrugging attitude of resignation that is widespread - the notion that that is just the way it goes, and that there is nothing much we can do about it. Such an attitude is a damning indictment of the political culture of the province....
Read the whole thing by clicking here.
04 November 2009
26 October 2009
SNIJs & Symbols: Cayman Islands
I know you've been waiting in anticipation, so here it is. Another from the SNIJs & Symbols series: The Caymans Islands. Obviously, a British Overseas Territory, with that familiar (overused?) Union Jack in the corner. What do you think? Like it? Or not so much?
21 October 2009
The Cayman Islands are the New Boston States for Fortune-Seeking Islanders
Back in them old times, many a Prince Edward Islander would venture off the farm and wend their way southward to where jobs and money were more plentiful i.e. New England or, as it came to be called on PEI, the Boston States. There were no jobs on PEI, families were big, farms were limited in size and generally there was not a lot of opportunity if you had the kind of personality for opportunity-seeking. American cities like Boston and New York had such opportunities and there are still many family connections with PEI in these areas as a result of this migration in the late 19th and early 20th century.
In more recent years, perhaps reflective of the growing strength of the ideals of Confederation, the out-migration from PEI has continued but it has flowed to Canadian cities like Calgary and Toronto. In the 2000s, the oil fields of Northern Alberta has attracted worksome Islanders with skills and trades. As with the moves to the Boston States, the reason for going to these sites so far from the fields of home are economic. There are serious economic pressures for people to leave PEI for higher paying work than they can find here and they go to the economic hotspots where the highest pay and best opportunities are found. Sadly, aside from illustrating exactly where these hotspots are, this emigration illustrates that, for decades, PEI has not had a strong enough economy to hang on to its most motivated residents. And ironically, nowadays, some of the locales that lure our bestest and brightest are islands themselves such as the Cayman Islands. Look at this article by a scion of the Souris area who now earns his living in the Caribbean and touts the benefits of doing business there. Why would someone leave the small island of PEI for the small island of Grand Cayman?
The sad part of the irony is that the Caymans possess no more resources than PEI. They don't have oil, we don't have oil. They don't have a large manufacturing economy, we don't have a large manufacturing economy. They are a SNIJ with a large amount of jurisdictional autonomy, we are a SNIJ with a large amount of jurisdictional autonomy. Why, then, are there opportunities in the Caymans that don't exist in PEI and draw migrants and their money?
My view is that the Caymans have made the most of the limited resources they do possess i.e. jurisdictional capacity which has enabled the development of a lucrative insurance and financial industry. In PEI, we have not. Until we figure out how to maximize our own jurisdictional capacity i.e. setting policies and enacting legislation that promotes appropriate development, we will continue to see our friends and families "going down the road" to smarter SNIJs.
In more recent years, perhaps reflective of the growing strength of the ideals of Confederation, the out-migration from PEI has continued but it has flowed to Canadian cities like Calgary and Toronto. In the 2000s, the oil fields of Northern Alberta has attracted worksome Islanders with skills and trades. As with the moves to the Boston States, the reason for going to these sites so far from the fields of home are economic. There are serious economic pressures for people to leave PEI for higher paying work than they can find here and they go to the economic hotspots where the highest pay and best opportunities are found. Sadly, aside from illustrating exactly where these hotspots are, this emigration illustrates that, for decades, PEI has not had a strong enough economy to hang on to its most motivated residents. And ironically, nowadays, some of the locales that lure our bestest and brightest are islands themselves such as the Cayman Islands. Look at this article by a scion of the Souris area who now earns his living in the Caribbean and touts the benefits of doing business there. Why would someone leave the small island of PEI for the small island of Grand Cayman?
The sad part of the irony is that the Caymans possess no more resources than PEI. They don't have oil, we don't have oil. They don't have a large manufacturing economy, we don't have a large manufacturing economy. They are a SNIJ with a large amount of jurisdictional autonomy, we are a SNIJ with a large amount of jurisdictional autonomy. Why, then, are there opportunities in the Caymans that don't exist in PEI and draw migrants and their money?
My view is that the Caymans have made the most of the limited resources they do possess i.e. jurisdictional capacity which has enabled the development of a lucrative insurance and financial industry. In PEI, we have not. Until we figure out how to maximize our own jurisdictional capacity i.e. setting policies and enacting legislation that promotes appropriate development, we will continue to see our friends and families "going down the road" to smarter SNIJs.
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