Reading the Post article, I was surprised to learn that nobody stepped up to the microphone to comment or protest. Is this a demonstration of collective fatigue with this issue? Are we as a community resigned to our fate? Perhaps we simply recognize the inevitable, i.e. that enrollment has dropped to the point where drastic steps must be taken.

We as a community are at a crossroads,we know the problems yet lack the leadership to drive change. More money is spent discussing and studying problems than invested in solving them. Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Robert Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. There is a flip side to this, which ultimately results in extinction. Let's apply this to social systems, the socioeconomic constructs that define Cape Breton. We know that schools require children, yet are angered by closures; the result of no children. People are leaving, why? To find a better life for their children, one that will provide opportunity and a future. We as a community can be described as a three legged dog that was just diagnosed with the mange. Rather than invest in a cure, we focus on treatment and bandages.. The point is, the rest of Canada and the Province don't care, trust me they don't. They have their own issues that effect them. This is a dog race and there are few that will bet on a mangy three legged dog. What is even more interesting, we as a community won't even bet on ourselves. Ask yourself, when was the last time I purchased from a local business or farmer? Went to a wharf and purchased directly from a local fisherman? We participate in our own demise, present company included, (yes me). Struggle without end is not prosperity it's existence, therefore the decline continues. What we see are the symptoms.