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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-CA link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>I’m having a back and forth with a colleague in Ottawa re: my blogpost on <a href="https://gurstein.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/repurposing-post-offices-as-community-innovation-hub-inclusion-equity-and-deconcentration/">Post-offices as Community Innovation Hubs</a> .<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In a recent email he made the following comment:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p style='background:white'><i><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>In your blog post, and some of the community informatics threads, I noted direct reference to the - now very clearly defunct - CAP program. Apparently, even mentioning that program is extremely problematic and strongly discouraged if you don't want everyone in Ottawa to go running. I'm not exactly sure why, but that's what I understand. <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p style='background:white'><i><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>I must say that this rather surprised me. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'>This is how I replied to him:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='background:white'><b><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>It had some success in rural areas, less in urban areas (it was terribly terribly mismanaged) but for those involved and for a fairly large number of rural communities it was something of a success. It was one of the very very few Federal Programs which were delivered directly to communities to the Feds who really didn’t understand what they were doing (they set up and for a long time treated it as a training ground for e-commerce which it never was…<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></p><p style='background:white'><b><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Any comments or explanations why CAP should be in such disrepute in Ottawa (and is that consistent with the experience of others)?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p style='background:white'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>M</span><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>