Glimmer of hope

It was disappointing, though not unexpected, that Tourism minister Monique Smith told delegates attending the Northern Ontario Municipal Association’s annual conference in Fort Frances last week that she could not promise “Sunset Country” will remain a separate entity when the province overhauls its system of travel regions as recommended by the so-called Sorbara report.
How wonderful it would have been had Ms. Smith, right here in the gateway to “Sunset Country” for the majority of our U.S. visitors, announced she had heard the hue and cry against an absurd government decision that would toss aside 35 years of brand marketing in favour of seeing our distinct region swallowed up into a 1,500-km swath stretching from Sault Ste. Marie to the Manitoba border known as “Superior North.”
Alas, it was not to be.
Still, there is a glimmer of hope. Michael Kurts, assistant deputy minister for the Ministry of Tourism, told NOMA delegates on Thursday that the map in the report showing the 11 new travel regions “are not recommendations as to what the regions should be,” adding Mr. Sorbara feel no allegiance to the way the lines are drawn.
Rather, he said the proposal was intended “to spark discussion.”
That it has. The $64,000 question, of course, is will the government listen?
The province certainly hasn’t given us much time to get our message across, with public consultations slated for next Wednesday (April 29) in Kenora and the following day in Thunder Bay. Nor has the government (surprise, surprise) made it convenient for tourist operators and other stakeholders in our neck of the woods to have their voices heard given the “gateway” has been shunned as a meeting site.
We cannot throw in the towel, though, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against us. We must continue to press the government the answer to a poorly-conceived idea is to reduce the number of travel regions to 12, not 11, and keep Sunset Country and Superior North as they are.
It’s a solution so simple surely even Queen’s Park can grasp it.