Media Clipping — November 17, 2001, The Cape Breton Post

Value of Volunteers pegged at $1.9 billion

By Tanya Collier Macdonald

WESTMOUNT — If volunteers In Nova Scotia stopped helping others for one year, the province would lose $1.9 billion worth of service.

That is what upward of 150 delegates attending the conference Celebrating Volunteers learned during the sessions keynote address Friday at the Canadian Coast Guard College.

Ron Colman, director at Genuine Progress Index Atlantic, reported Nova Scotia benefits from 140 million hours of volunteer work each year, more than the amount of paid work by all government employees within the three levels of government including the Armed Forces.

"You have political clout."

And, time volunteered represents about 83,000 jobs in the province.

When compared to the rest of the country, Nova Scotia contributes 43 per cent more in volunteer work than the Canadian average, which puts the province in first place.

"Nova Scotians are caring and generous people, said Colman.

What's troubling is the numbers are going down.

Colman said in recent years, the province has lost about $60 million worth of volunteer work.

For all of Canada, there are 8.7 per cent fewer volunteers than there were 10 years ago - a downfall of $4.7 billion worth of service.

"The surprising thing is, that that's not an issue in our legislatures or our House of Commons. There is no debate on the decline of volunteer work in Canada. In fact, I would venture a guess that 95 per cent, maybe 99 per cent of politicians don't even know that number."

If the country's economy declined by 8.7 per cent, it would be described as a depression, said Colman.

"That would be a national emergency. The cabinet would be meeting around the clock."

"Governments are so dumb about this because one staff person leverages the support of 10, 20, 30 volunteers. Government would do so well by itself to actually give volunteer organizations the support they need."

The Genuine Progress Index is now preparing to measure volunteer work in communities throughout Canada and are now in Glace Bay to determine a measurement for the future.

Copyright © 2001, The Cape Breton Post