The town mouse ponders town growth
Roderick Benns is the publisher of The Advocate. An award-winning author and journalist who grew up in Lindsay, he has written several books including Basic Income: How a Canadian Movement Could Change the World.
Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse” is a twist on the classic Aesop fable – and an improvement.
In the Aesop version, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, the town mouse comes across as a bit condescending, which inevitably invites the reader to appreciate the country mouse and her ‘simple life,’ rather than the hustle and bustle of town life.
Potter’s version in 1918 is simply better, with each mouse unnerved by the other’s world.
One of the darkest days of my young life was when we left Lindsay to live rurally. Well, if one can call it that – Pickerel Point Road near Snug Harbour. I had to leave my town friends behind, even though technically they were only nine kilometres away. For a 13-year-old, we may as well have moved to Yellowknife. There was no library to spend time at. There were no paved streets. It was like town, in that we were surrounded by houses, but even worse because there were none of a town’s amenities. Trickery most foul.
Things I don’t like about the country: no cafes or stores; dusty gravel; having a well and a septic tank; sus internet; too many bugs; no library; no restaurants; no hospital or schools; no theatre of any kind; the bugs; poor water pressure; bugs.
Of course, town life can be annoying, too. Loud cars. Disruptive people. Traffic. In everything there is a trade-off.
In our cover story this month by Ian McKechnie, he writes of the future now before Kawartha Lakes, but especially Lindsay and to a lesser extent Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls. For years we have watched other municipalities grow all around (or near) the Greater Toronto Area. The Milton’s, the Durham Regions, the Peterborough’s and the Markham’s. Now it’s our turn – and there’s no turning back. The only question that remains is the ‘how.’
How will we grow? What will it look like? And just as importantly, what are the aspects of a small-town life that we would absolutely miss if they were taken away?
From an aesthetic perspective, I can’t think of anything more important than preserving the look and feel of our downtowns. This is imperative to retain our unique identity. Think about your own travels for a moment. Does anyone ever drive into a new town for the very first time to look for their corporate stores? Do we ask someone where to find the commercial strip? Of course not. We want to see the heart of the community – we want to drive or walk about their downtown. That’s where identity lies. And that’s why it’s a line in the sand for our communities that we must preserve.
I get it. Not everyone is a town mouse like me. And I would hasten to add I prefer small towns over big cities, so I, too, am looking for balanced growth. What about you? Tell me what you are both worried and excited about during this time of great change for our communities. Email me at
I fell in love with Lindsay the first time I visited from the UK in 1992. We emigrated in 2014 and set up home here in the town we loved. I appreciate that growth and ‘progress’ are inevitable but PLEASE don’t let us become just another soulless dormitory town for Toronto. I’ve seen enough of these to make me realise that I wouldn’t want to live in one.