Why is Port Alberni the Best Place to Live?

We just had a very interesting talk about the history of Port Alberni by Ken Rutherford at our last meeting. We were all much filled with pride for our community

Then on Thursday, March 29th, I read the following editorial from the Times Colonist, "What on earth is going on in Port Alberni?" And the editorial goes on to point out all the wrong things about us:

(1) The latest health statistics for the region is awful.

(2) B.C. average. Diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis levels are frightening

(3) Premature births are nearly 30 percent above the provincial average

(4) Childhood hospital visits for injury or poisoning are sky high. So are the numbers of teen pregnancies.

(5) Life expectancy in the region is a full three years behind the B.C. and Canadian averages.

(6) How could a health-care system that produces first class results across our province come up short in Alberni?

(7) It is not just the health scores that are down-just about all the region’s socio-economic indicators are depressed.

(8) One in ten families receives employment insurance payments-five times the number in Victoria

(9) Unemployment levels are stubbornly high.

(10) The serious crime rate is more than twice the average for Vancouver Island. So is the juvenile crime rate.

(11) Reading scores in Grades 4 and 7 are poor. Twelve percent of homes need major repairs.

(12) Expectant mothers are more likely to smoke during pregnancy

(13) On the tourism front, the picture is equally grim.

(14) Curing a sick patient is one thing Curing an ailing community is another matter entirely.

(15) The failure in Port Alberni is political, not medical.

This editorial was reprinted in our own paper. I thought there would have been more discussion on its content. I remember Bob Cole coming to our rescue.

Remember when the magazine Money Sense said that Port Alberni was the worst place in which to live? Our former mayor wanted to take that editor on a fishing trip to prove that he was wrong in his evaluation What is your response to this editorial? A good friend was annoyed Suppose a person was thinking of coming to live here, how would this person respond after reading this article?

It is my hope that we would be able to face the truth or falsehood in anything that was written about us. Is the editor of the Colonist to be thanked for showing us a different picture of Port?

Could we dare to look at ourselves and start making changes? In spite of the editorial and the opinion of Money Sense, what is your personal view on Port Alberni?

See you all at FOOD AND FILOSOPHY on MAY 7THMay 7th at Dolce Vita at 5:30 p.m