Monday, March 22, 2010

(Day 81) All quiet on the waterfront

Small communities in Ontario, and perhaps across Canada, are having difficulty staying vibrant. Jobs and career opportunities are dwindling as manufacturers move to lower cost centres. Quite often young people don't return once they complete post-secondary education. Pictured below is the Rideau River waterfront of Smiths Falls, a town of 9,000 which recently lost a chocolate manufacturer that provided over 1,000 jobs at one time, and a health care facility which provided over 800 jobs. It's a pity, and a loss for the country, because a small town has a unique way of life and a sense of community that can't be replicated in a big city.

(70-200mm  f5  6 sec  ISO800)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice title ;)

The picture is great. By the way, I really like all of the bits of info you post with pictures. It's like a documentary for your hometown!

['ô ] Avery

Scott Law said...

Really cool reflections. The very white lights in the center and far left really accentuate it just right. Nice work.

Rick said...

Thanks Avery (the title's a bit of a play on a WWI film). Smiths Falls is close to my hometown - I took some shots after I refereed hockey there tonight - women's hockey, in fact - yes, they behaved! :)

Rick said...

Thank you Scott - I appreciate the compliment.

Anonymous said...

I've seen the film for school and enjoyed it(for a war movie). Sounds like a fun thing to do, referee. I'd be afraid to actually play!

['ô ] Avery

darlin said...

Wonderful photo once again Rick, it's horrible what is happening in our communities and how bad the economic situation is. How are the house prices there? They haven't moved here at all, homes for a half a million dollars which are worth maybe half that. More and more homes are being vacated, if they realized how many people are unemployed and put the prices down to something reasonable maybe they'd sell some of these homes. It makes sense to me anyways.

Rick said...

@darlin - thank you. House prices here haven't changed dramatically; they've climbed slowly and steadily over the years, unlike Alberta. You can still buy a small older starter home for $80-90K, although there are $1M+ homes too.

imac said...

Its a beauty.

Rick said...

@imac - thank you.

Anonymous said...

Amazing reflection and awesome colors.

Its a pity indeed that things are not going on well for some small communities.

Levi said...

This is a beautiful photo, Rick. Love the reflections (and ripples) upon the water.

Rick said...

@M - thank you. I didn't see that in Holland in '08, but I think the country's size has a lot to do with that.

@POD - thanks for your comment.