A thank you  (Part I)

There is no other way to say it except to simply say thank you. The past few days, while a blur, will over time, become a blip.  We will never forget the overwhelming support and goodwill from a community that included people from all across our amazing city, and from many other places too.

 

We want to thank the many who reached out to us with offers of assistance on the next steps. Thanks to you, you have brought an issue forward with our provincial representatives that there is an opportunity here to update regulations to accommodate small enterprises and reflect the realities of life in 2022. We know there can be more than one path to an outcome. All we ask is for our representatives to see what lies ahead as an opportunity and not a threat. A huge thank you to our Mayor, our MP and MPP, and local city councilors and community leaders who were a part of that effort.

 

Maybe some of you reading this are old enough to remember the craft beer scene 40 years ago. Back then, there was no craft beer. Just the big breweries, and big efforts by them to dominate shelf space, and crowd out the competition. Today, craft beer isn’t just in Ontario, craft beer is part of Ontario’s personality. Today, it’s hard to imagine a visit to any city, town, or village, without a visitor seeking out the local brew, a brew that the locals have loved and supported.

 

That could be the future of artisanal ice cream in Ontario. It certainly is that elsewhere! Imagine what our provincial landscape could look like in the next few years if we see what we saw over the past week for what it is: a love of what’s local.

 

Because local is about more than shopping local. It’s about the pride of a community. It is also quality of life, entrepreneurship, and supporting those around us. Local is about relationships, the relationships that cement human interaction, something we used to just take for granted, and that now in our digital age, has become more precious and meaningful than ever before.

 

The government first introduced the Milk Act in 1965. While there have been many changes to that Act since then, it sometimes still feels like it’s 1965 when you’re a small producer. 

 

Ottawa is home to many wonderful artisanal ice cream makers. It could be home to many more with many more products on store shelves with the right approach at the provincial level.

 

As the blur of last week becomes a blip in time, what remains is the opportunity for change. Let’s see it for what it is and make ice cream work, for all. 🙂