> the poverty stemming from having a single industry propping up the local economy

This is such a dangerous game and Ontario small towns have played it and lost for decades.

Consider Smith's Falls, Ontario. Hersey built a nice big chocolate factory there, employing half the town. The town grew, lots of local businesses began existing by offering goods and services to the employees of that factory. They even offered factory tours with a rejected chocolate bar store at the end, and kids like me would beg their parents to go on the tour.

And then Hersey closed the factory. Everyone lost their jobs, many of the businesses closed, even Walmart struggled.