Reading: Gap Fill - 2022 őszi

Little Bay Islands is the kind of place where you can (0) _______________ , go on holiday for three weeks and return to an undisturbed home. The owners of the only shop (7) _______________ and, in their absence, leave a container with coins and wrinkled bills on the counter. Residents buy what they need and (8) _______________ . The tiny island community in Canada's easternmost province, Newfoundland and Labrador, is home to 54 permanent residents, and more in the summertime. But on 31 December, electricity and water will (9) _______________ and the ferry service discontinued. Little Bay Islands has agreed to resettle on the mainland as part of the province's community relocation policy, which offers government compensation to people who (10) _______________ . Two-thirds of Canada's 37.5 million inhabitants live within 100km of the country's southern border with the US, a strip of land that constitutes just 4% of Canada's territory. Remote areas in the rest of the country have long struggled to (11) _______________ such as healthcare, utilities and the internet. Newfoundland and Labrador faces an acute struggle: a rapidly ageing population spread over a vast area. Decline began in 1992 with a ban on fishing cod to (12) _______________ , putting people out of work. The school shut down in 2018 after two consecutive years with no pupils. The decision to (13) _______________ has taken nine years. As part of that process, the province compared the cost of service delivery to paying each household between C$250,000 and C$270,000 to leave. It estimated resettlement could (14) _______________ over 20 years. Residents have been slowly filing out. Many (15) _______________ , but for others this may be goodbye. By New Year's Day, Mike and Georgina Parsons will be the only permanent residents of Little Bay Islands. Watching his parents and neighbours pack up and leave was tough, said Parsons. "In spite of the fact that they have voted to leave, I know that to actually do it, to pack up their things and leave, is just heartbreaking."