Author: Auntie Francine

By Francine St. Amand As I learn more about the opportunities which are lounging around dormant until we awake them, I feel like pulling the blankets over my head and hiding until all this economic chaos passes.   You see, on the one hand, I want to stay firmly...

by Francine St.Amand The Flood of 2012 wiped out 100+ jobs in the Village of Perth-Andover. To my knowledge, no attempt has been made to replace those jobs. Being an election year, I would urge everyone to hammer out that reminder to politicians.   Writing this series on Alternative...

Alternative Employment and Shared Economy By Francine St.Amand Call it Shared Living, Cooperative Household, Collective Housing , Alternative Living. The Golden Girls of the 1980’s sitcom were on to something. Maybe it was a preview of what was to come as a necessary choice some three decades later.  ...

New Career Strategies for Rural New Brunswick & Ideas to Create a New Prosperity Wishing You a Happy & Prosperous New Year! Now there’s a season’s greetings that we hear often – but what does it mean in 2014?   PROSPERITY as we have been conditioned to think, is...

New Career Strategies for Rural New Brunswick Francine St.Amand “WE ARE NOW IN AN AGE WHERE INTELLECT IS THE CURRENCY”, gracefully proclaimed Catherine Chambers. As we stagger and limp away from the left-overs of the Industrial Age, the buffet of diverse possibilities awaits us in the Information Age, is...

In a facebook comment last week, I was described as being simple-minded. I never read the posting, but I was told that the comment was not meant to be flattering. Which is too bad. This author obviously doesn’t know me…because… I am quite proud of the fact that I...

By Francine St.Amand WE’VE ONLY JUST BEGUN is the message that Georgetown Conference area delegates want to impress upon Perth-Andover and Surrounding Area. On Nov 28, Joe Gee, Luke Sinstadt and myself presented our second public presentation about the conference. While this fulfills my commitment to the Village Council...

by Auntie Francine When I started up the Community Conversations Initiative last winter, I promised Village Council that some of the sessions would be on the ‘light’ side. December seemed like a good month for a fun yet still educational event. In conversations with co-workers a few weeks ago,...

EDUCATE AND COLLABORATE is the message the local Georgetown Conference delegates seek to impress upon their communities. The delegates who attended the Georgetown Conference on Rural Revitalization in Prince Edward Island on Oct 3rd – 5th launched their first Public Presentation at the Perth-Andover Civic Centre on October 24th....

The great myth of rural Atlantic Canada is that she is a region whose best years are behind her. Her people are too old, the story goes, and too dependent on failing traditional industries and too dependent on the government. There’s definitely truth in those words…those us of who...