July 30th, 2007 - News

Community Economic Development: Moving out of the margins
hen compared with other countries, Canada regularly fares very well. For instance, amongst G7 countries, Canada:
* has the best overall quality of life;
* ranks first in providing equal opportunities for individuals;
* has the lowest cost of living;
* ranks second in terms of effectively reducing environmental stresses on human health and promoting ecosystem vitality and sound natural resource management; and
* is the safest place to live and conduct business with the most fairly administered judicial system.
Having said that, these benefits are often limited to certain sectors and geographic areas within our country, while others live on the margins. Community economic development (CED) is a community-based, community-directed and holistic approach to deal with the marginalization. While there is no hard and fast definition of CED, the general idea is that it describes local action by people to create economic opportunities and enhance social conditions in their communities on a sustainable and inclusive basis, particularly among those who are most disadvantaged.