Truth be told , small towns in Ontario have in the  past 50 years have been shrinking due to a lack of economic activities.  The future for young people is not in a small town. The erosion now is closing schools in small  towns due to low numbers of students, hospitals are shrinking and consolidating. Even nursing homes and long term card facilities are amalgamating due to a decreasing number of people. This  change is necessary to survive, not that 'big is better" but rather economies of scale and the mobile ability to drive distances to have these services. Medium towns in southern Ontario are starving to death as well as villages which are boarded up and deserted. The property taxes and the government ability to sustain services is becoming dismal and unsustainable. The future of rural Ontario is truly at a crossroad.