As we head into the Eastern Shore Cooperator’s third year, we wanted to take a moment to thank everyone—readers, advertisers, writers, photographers—who have gotten us this far, and to ask for your help in supporting more effective, more vibrant coverage of this wonderful part of the world we are so lucky to live in.
It was some twenty years ago that the provincial government undemocratically foisted amalgamation onto the people of the Eastern Shore, creating a political unit whose very name—Halifax Regional Municipality—reflects the awkwardness of this artificial and inequitable union of urban and rural concerns.
As so many predicted at the time, the needs of the Eastern Shore would inevitably be given short shrift on a City Council where most of the members came from urban districts. In stark contrast, the one Councillor for the Eastern Shore represents a district that stretches a profoundly non-urban 150 kilometers along the coast from the Prestons and Lawrencetown all the way to Ecum Secum, and takes at least two hours just to drive from one end to the other.
But the sense of the Eastern Shore as a very special, very beautiful part of the world persists. The Eastern Shore Cooperator came into being three years ago to give voice to the region’s concerns and to build a stronger sense of community among the region’s many towns and villages.
One of the keys to building the Shore’s economy can be summed up in the simple phrase, “buy local.” By paying attention to buying local, we can keep our money circulating in our own communities, staying in the pockets of our friends and neighbors rather than leaving the Shore, the province, or even the country. We know only too well that an economy based on exporting our natural resources—fish, timber, coal—leaves us at the bottom of the global economy.
Supporting the advertisers in this newspaper is one way you can demonstrate your support for buying local. Our advertisers make it possible for us to bring you this newspaper for free every month, delivered right to your mailbox. (And if you’re not getting the paper, let us know!). We deeply appreciate the willingness of these companies to invest in the paper with their own hard-earned dollars. When you’re shopping with any of our advertisers, we hope you will thank them for making it possible for the Shore to have its own community paper.
