Changing Names

Two April Fools jokes have moved from farce to fantasy and are now slipping into the realm of well, maybe . . . That Mike Harris would ever want to be Mayor of North Bay does stretch the limits of credibility, but who knows. If the Liberals in Toronto and Ottawa continue down the slippery slopes they are presently embarked upon, the populace may begin to look at Conservatives again and there are few more conservative than Mike. Some people might argue that having a strong connection with the ruling provincial party would be a change for North Bay.

As for changing the name of our fair town, this is not the first time this balloon has been floated by marketing-type people. There is no doubt that ‘North’ has some negative connotations during the six months when it isn’t winter here. Looking at a map of the lake it is hard to figure why anyone not under the influence of home brewed spirits would have ever named this section of the lake as a ‘Bay’.

The City fathers, back in 1925 when the town was incorporated, had a chance to change the name but back then they likely thought that the North was mysterious and intriguing, luring folk to the mines and forests of the unexplored northern part of the province. Then again when West Ferris and Widdifield were swallowed up, the name could have been changed, signifying the happy marriage of the three. After all, it is not that unusual for parties to change names when taking the vows to live happily together ever after.

The latest opportunity to change the name of North Bay was when the whole concept of the Blue Sky region was initiated. Some folk mistakenly believed the name had something to do with the amount of sunshine we get here in the Bay. The name was the brainchild of our former City Planner who wanted to encourage the notion that we were a place of Blue Sky Thinking – a buzzword that had just replaced Thinking Outside the Box. But Blue Sky City was just too tempting for scribes like me to shorten it to BS City, a term that too often easily fits the local politics.

Of all the names I have heard bandied about after April 1, I like Johnstonville. Dr Rod and Lynn have done more for the city and area lately than anyone else and their influence will be with us for some time to come. But the marketing gurus will have a problem with the ‘ville’ part and then there are those delicious Johnsonville Brats that are available in most food stores. Comparing us to a bunch of sausages over a grill may be too easy. Victorville is not a close second because when we start making hockey sticks here, we’d be competing with our sister city, Victoriaville in La Belle Province.

April Fool aside, I think we should be keeping the name change on the back burner. Sooner or later we will realize the benefits of amalgamating with our surrounding municipalities to form the Greater City of North Bay. As the urbanization of Canada continues and governments focus more on the urban centres, we will either become a larger urban area or slip into the hinterlands of rural towns and villages. Already we see signs of money being directed at urban problems as the gasoline tax goes to cities with transit systems. The recent bundling of the area Health units is just another sign of things to come. Already our School Boards have grown to urban size. Municipal government will surely follow. Who knows, an amalgamated city might even attract Mike Harris to run for Mayor!

The name? Nipissing is the logical name for us. Already we have the Lake, the District, the local thespians and the University on side. The word has the ring of the First Nations, not a copy of some European city, a name that can conjure up all sorts of images for the marketers. Known as the Big Water to the Ojibwa, we could use that branding like New York uses The Big Apple. Okay, forget that one, but the translation to Sparkling Waters could be marketed, especially when we get our water filtration plant on Trout Lake running and the Sewage (sorry, water purification) Plant moved off the valuable Lake Nipissing lakefront.

We might have to ‘buy off’ that little village of Nipissing on the south shore where I grew up, but if we included them in the amalgamation, they would be happy. Besides they have a lot of lakeshore with some nice assessment properties . . . sort of like the ones on the east end of Trout Lake. Yep, I can see how easily this will work.