What have we learned?

It will be interesting to see what lessons Chatham-Kent council will have learned when it discusses a $1.5-million donation request from the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus.

The university wants C-K to pay 10% of the $15-million project that aims to develop the Ontario Sustainable Crop Research & Innovation Centre in Ridgetown.

In the request provided to council this week, the university assured the project is needed “to replace out-dated facilities built more than 50 years ago; attract and retain world-class researchers; support agriculture in the region; and attract and retain students.”

There is no doubt that agriculture is the binding force that shapes C-K’s economy. Other sectors emerge, flourish and decline.

Agriculture, despite its cyclical nature, remains with us. To a large extent, it is us.

When it comes to investing, however, council needs to consider more than one sector. Saying no to the University of Guelph is not saying no to agriculture.

The landscape of Chatham-Kent is littered with the wreckage of college programs that didn’t quite pan out.

The James A. Burgess Skills Centre, the St. Clair College Golf School, the downtown bakery and campus and the Capitol Theatre were all once highly touted efforts which in the end remind us that when dealing with institutions of higher learning, the first thing they take care of is themselves.

We have no problem with Guelph asking for funding. As noted in the report, getting C-K support would serve as leverage for other key partners.

The university is in the same leaking lifeboat as any agency or institution dependent on funding from a provincial government that is at best incompetent, at worst, corrupt.

If the lifeboat goes under, expect Premier Kathleen Wynne to step on the heads of anyone below to keep her head above water.

Ridgetown campus is an economic driver, and having post-secondary institutions as part of our community is a good thing.

That doesn’t mean we should be writing a blank cheque with no assurances that there will even be a Ridgetown campus a decade from now.

Council needs to show it has learned from the past and take steps to ensure that if it invests, there is more than just a hope that the investment pays off.