If the 40% of employees who could work from home did so half of the time (approximately the national average) it would reduce Gulf Oil dependence by almost 60% and save Americans $40 billion at the pumps (http://undress4success.com/research)
Another source I rely on is The Oil Drum - this is a headline from a comprehensive article on the value and also the barriers to Telecommuting.
This tells me that if most of the Provincial and Federal Employees on PEI telecommuted - we too on PEI may cut our imports by about 60%. It also puts big money back into the pockets of Islanders.
The barriers are essentially cultural - this is surely a large enough win to learn how to manage by outcome? This is surely a large enough win to learn how to set people up back in their communities - what about schools, Access PEI offices, Community Centres, Tourism Offices?
If we heated with wood and telecommuted much of the pain and financial drain would go away. If we heated with wood and we telecommuted, community would return and so would many jobs.