The Main Street Canada approach for small historic towns

This article focused on the development of small towns around Main Streets in Canada between the nineteenth and twentieth century (LeBlanc, 2011). Since the end of WW2, Canada\’s Main Street began to deteriorate due to the national wide shortage of infrastructure development (LeBlanc, 2011). The influence of the Great Depression and war resource distribution led Canada\’s small communities to fall in the 1930s and the early 1940s (LeBlanc, 2011). It was in the 1979 when Heritage Canada Foundation began looking into ways to help revitalize and save existing downtowns of small historic towns (LeBlanc, 2011). This led to the creation of the Main Street Canada Program which focused on planning around the most vital streets in small town cores (LeBlanc, 2011). The goal of the program was to generate emphasis on the public\’s participation in the planning process, develop local resources and promote local communal identity through the image of their main streets (LeBlanc, 2011). Similar to the approaches of growing shopping centers, the Main Street Program operated on a four point approach: (1) organisation, (2) design improvements, (3) economic development, and (4) marketing (LeBlanc, 2011). The initiative came to a conclusion in 1994, after Heritage Canada found that the goal to help save small historic communities was accomplished (LeBlanc, 2011). However, it still continues to be a vital part various provinces across Canada such as, Alberta, Quebec and Saskatchewan (LeBlanc, 2011).