This is my first blog in too many months, which reflects the hundreds of kilometres since my last blog that I have cycled, the burgeoning stack of books and journal articles I have been reading on urban cycling and sustainable transport and the myriad of community meetings and conversations I’ve had along the way about a topic and activity I find both intellectually stimulating and aesthetically pleasing:  urban cycling.

Just over a month ago, Premier McGuinty received the report on a $2.2 million commission report called "Ontario in the Creative Age." The report by U of T's Roger Martin, Richard Florida, and colleagues, predicted that the province was "on the brink of an economic revolution." This revolution, the authors say, is contingent on the creation of more high-paying "creative" jobs in science, technology, law and management. In this new economic regime, places like Kitchener-Waterloo (a tech centre) and Ottawa (a government centre) appear as winners that are relatively less affected by the recent economic downturn. Less is said, however, about Ontario's small cities and rural areas. What then, might be Eastern Ontario's path to creativity? A key debate emerging in the Toronto Star and Maclean's is the role of education in the development of creative economies. While Martin and Florida suggest better funding for post-secondary education at institutions like Queen's, Loyalist, and Algonquin (essentially an argument for improving human capital), a better alternative outside the province's major commercial centers may be to improve basic literacy. Since literacy is an area of "split jurisdiction," Eastern Ontario may be able to determine its own destiny with regard to improving literacy among the region's hundreds of thousands who may not have skills to cope with most workplace environments. Do you agree with Martin and Florida's hi-tech, higher-ed approach or does this region need to use a back-to-basics approach (focusing on literacy in schools and among adults) where education is concerned?

Last week the federal government finally provided details on the new Southern Ontario Development Agency.  SODA was announced last January as part of the Conservative Government’s Action Plan for Canada.  Over the last several months, rumours and speculation passed through economic development circles across Ontario.