Abstract:
The purpose of the Teulon Industrial Study was to assess the feasibility of the development of an industrial park in the rural Canadian community o Teulon, Manitoba. The project, initiated through a partnership between the municipality, the local economic development committee, and the region's federally-funded Community Futures Development Corporation, was based upon local development priorities established through a community strategic planning process. The project reflects the community's desire to address a number of persistent issues including static population growth, youth unemployment and out-migration, and the lack of business diversification. These persistent issues reveal that in many instances rural Canadian economic systems are failing. This is in part a result of inherent system limitations, system fragmentation due to economic and technological change, and a weak and fragmented government policy regarding rural development. The failure of rural systems is marked by the decline of small ruralcommunities whose long-term survival and sustainability will require government re-investment in rural development and aggressive local economic development initiatives. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
