With the town’s largest employer forced to restructure under bankruptcy protection, and the forest industry overall continuing to tank, it’s safe to say Fort Frances is facing an uncertain future the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression.
Too bad not a lot of people seem to care.
The 40 or so who did turn out for the “emergency” town hall meeting hosted by local MP John Rafferty here last Thursday evening certainly were vocal in conveying their anger and frustration over the current situation, particularly small business owners saddled with unpaid bills and mill pensioners wondering if their monthly cheque still will be there in years to come.
But come on. The banquet hall at La Place Rendez-Vous should have been packed to the rafters with irate and worried residents. In fact, there should have been a big enough crowd to warrant using the arena floor as the venue.
Here was the chance to make our voices heard loud and clear in Ottawa. An opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with friends, neighbours, and co-workers in an impassioned defence of our town’s very existence. Rather than embrace it, however, we let it slip through our collective fingers.
Instead, the only real message we sent was that the crisis can’t be all that bad because only 40 people out of a population of roughly 7,500 bothered to drag themselves from the TV set or computer screen or whatever to voice their concerns.
You may not have voted for Mr. Rafferty last October, or agree with his political stripe, but at least he made the effort to listen to our stories and deliver them to the House of Commons. Unfortunately, the only thing deafening was our relative silence.
Hey, if we aren’t passionate about our community and livelihoods, who else will be?
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
