Why I Support Bruce Oake Recovery Centre to be located at Vimy Arena Site


I believe in people and their unlimited capacity to grow.  I believe in hope.  I believe in change.  

I believe in the ideals of our legal system that it is better for a guilty person to go free rather than to convict an innocent one.  I know the power off addiction.  So, I also believe that it is appropriate to treat an addicted person as many times as it takes, rather than to not try and to lose an addicted person to the disease.  

I have strongly supported the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for those reasons.  Also, I have found fault in the arguments of the people opposed to opening the Centre at the Vimy Arena site. 

But, the primary reason that I support BORC is economic.  I live in St. James/Brooklands Ward.  Walk down the streets of St. James Biz.  Businesses are closing and nothing is emerging.  Walk through the streets.  Few new home starts.  That is one of the primary indicators of a healthy economy is new home starts.  During the civic election, the decaying infrastructure of the city was a big issue.  We have to face the reality is that the decay is very evident in our Ward, being an "old" part of the city.  We need lots of upgrades and fixes.  Apartment buildings advertise vacancies.  We don't see that as much in other parts of the city.  Something needs to be done.  We don't have the population or the demographics to attract new development.  We are not going to get new retailers to build. 

We need something to promote economic stimulation in the area.   I support the BORC for the economic boost it will provide for our area.  The construction alone will provide jobs.  Once constructed, the Centre will employ people. Hopefully, some of the people employed will decide to live in the Vimy Area.  They will put their earnings back into our Ward.  It is so much superior to have a brand new state of the art facility rather than an abandoned arena. 

Our little corner of the world needs progression and not stagnation.  The Bruce Oake Recovery Centre offers our area the best chance of hope, in more ways than one. 

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