“A prophet is not without honour except in his own country.” A rather awkward grammatical construction, but a true statement nonetheless. We've had some true prophets in our community, and their wisdom has been met too often with eye rolling and mutters of “here he goes again”.

A prophet is not so much a person who foretells the future as someone who holds up a mirror to the present situation and lets us draw our own conclusions. When we don't like the reflection, we tend to dismiss the prophet.

Lately we've been receiving reports from consultants hired to tell us about the economic possibilities and best investments for the future of our region. Whenever rail is mentioned, there are nodding heads as if this were just the brilliant innovation the nodders had had themselves recently, and they relay nostalgic memories of the simple, train-based communities of yesteryear.

Where were these nodders when the decisions were made, in the oh so recent past , to rip up the rails and pave over the right of ways?

When work was being done on Highway 26 between Owen Sound and Meaford a few years ago, John Harrison was making the case for accommodating and retaining the railway overpass for future use. In the end that relatively small cost was saved, for the moment, by simply removing it. Grey County demonstrated healthy foresight when it held on to ownership of the rail lands, but the province made a very short-sighted decision to save a few bucks in the road reconstruction budget. When (and I believe it will be when, not if) rail is returned to Owen Sound, that road will need to be rebuilt and an overpass added at a cost of millions of dollars.

Another example of not wanting to look at the evidence in front of us.

We have conferences and studies and piles of reports from the World Health Organization down to our local health unit on the social determinants of health. They all clearly indicate that we are making community decisions that are resulting in huge costs to our health care system.

Again, the province theoretically pays for health care, but decisions about child care, housing, health clinics and public recreation spaces are made at the county or municipal level. They are often made on the basis of how much money can be wheedled out of higher levels of government, and the scale of the vision is reduced to fit the grant.

We have a current pilot project in Grey-Bruce called PLAY. It's funded by the provincial government to encourage free neighbourhood play to reduce obesity and increase fitness. At the same time, we are nickle-and-diming recreation spaces for teenagers to death. (Exception – Port Elgin's skate park – what do they know or have that Owen Sound does not?)

Appropriate affordable housing – something we are still tearing down much faster than we are building – is another determinant of health. The level of nutrition, security and stimulation in early childhood are important predictors of health in adulthood, yet we still have no level of government putting consistent resources into pre-school children and their families.

And of course, all of the things necessary for the health of our residents depends on having the financial resources to pay in a community that is increasingly pay-for-what-you-get. For those on social assistance, the cuts of the former Conservative government have never been replaced. Although our own member of provincial parliament says concern for poverty reduction in Ontario is “a McGuinty thing”, there's no evidence so far in his second mandate that the premier is prepared make the first and most necessary move – raise the rates.

And are people with jobs secure in their ability to pay for what they will need in the future? Those laid off at Tenneco are just the first and most predictable casualties of an economy built on cheap oil.

We're entering a new era say the prophets. Climate change, peak oil, poor health and politics. It won't be business as usual for long.

I laugh when I hear “who could have predicted....?” I know who, and believe me, they take no pleasure in saying “I told you so”. Perhaps it's not in our nature to apologize for or even admit to past sighs and eye-rolling. But for me, I'm taking these prophets in our community out for coffee. I want to hear what they're thinking about now.

I think there is plenty of hope for new ways of doing things. And I know just who might have an idea where they lie.