Rural-Urban Divide Deepens

Despite a booming offshore industry, the mineral riches of Labrador and a hard-won, $2 billion deal with Ottawa on offshore revenues, little has changed in rural Newfoundland - and the urban-rural divide remains one of the starkest in Canada. The province is in the black and unemployment is at an all-time low - but the work is not to be found in villages like Parkers Cove. Synard's father worked away for months at a time for CP Rail, and Synard himself spends every other month on an offshore supply vessel. His son has been working in Alberta as a surveyor for several years. "We've always gone away to make a living," says the 51-year-old ship's cook over a cup of tea in his dining room. Yet in the capital city, the centre of oil-gas activity in the province, long-neglected streets are getting much-needed facelifts and new homes and condominium developments are in the works all over town. http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/CanadianPress/BusinessNews/b12269A.htm

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