The campaign to save Summerside, PEI

When the federal government announced the closure of the military base in Summerside, PEI in its 1989 budget, it was a happy day for peace activists. But the 10,000 residents of Summerside, PEI were in despair over the economic hardship that would mean the death of their community.

A small group of union and community activists began planning a strategy that would focus on government help to find an alternative economic base for the area. The "Friends of CFB Summerside" was initiated and a campaign was launched.

From the beginning it was easy to get support from all areas of the community (churches, the Chamber of Commerce, women's groups etc.) since all had a stake in keeping the community alive. But the campaign began to stretch its base of support across the province as well.

The strategy was a positive one, the campaign was focused on something more positive - hope for the future of the community.

To illustrate this the campaign became quite elaborate including:

• a Mother's Day parade to save Summerside a Caravan of Hope ride to Ottawa
• decorating the main street of Summerside with yellow ribbons (yellow is the colour of hope) 
• renaming the main street the "Avenue of Hope" 
• a province-wide post card campaign that read "Don't Forget Summerside"

This public work was paralleled with a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort at both the provincial and federal levels. Members of the group continued to suggest that the base could be converted and that an alternative form of economic development could be started in Summerside.

In the end, they received commitments from both the federal and provincial governments as well as having a feasibility study done for converting the base.