QNTRODMC‘EQON 
     
    
   
   
    
     Survival, Go-operation, 
     
     Sindependence 
     
    
   
   
    
     Survival, co—operation, independence - what 
     
     makes this combination of attributes in a village or small 
     
     town so important today? In the age of megalopolis, why 
     
     bother with small towns at all? Not only do many people 
     
     genuinely like living in them, Canada needs its many 
     
     small towns and villages, if only to provide an alternative 
     
     way of life to that of the cities and a balance to their 
     
     overwhelming closeness, size, noise, impersonality, and 
     
     pollution. Small towns also serve as centres for those 
     
     industries which, by their very nature, cannot be located 
     
     in cities - farming and fishing for example. And, to insure 
     
     their survival, they need a certain amount of independence, 
     
     which, in turn, co—operation can help to provide. 
     
    
   
   
    
     This necessary combination of attributes has its 
     
     roots in the past. In Canada’s past there were many more 
     
     small towns and villages in proportion to the population 
     
     than there are now. Most began with some degree of 
     
     independence, a desire to survive, and some co-operation 
     
     among their residents. Why have some completely 
     
     disappeared? Why have many become little more than 
     
     shells in which people live but no longer work, go to 
     
     school or carry on any other meaningful activity outside