OTTAWA – The federal government should designate a cabinet minister responsible for rural issues, says the Liberal chair of a Commons committee studying rural development.
“I agree that we do need a senior level of political responsibility for rural issues,” Andy Mitchell from the Muskoka area of Ontario said May 16 after listening to witnesses argue that rural issues are not taken seriously enough by government.
He chairs the natural resources committee that has been hearing evidence about rural problems. Later, it is expected to send a report to the House of Commons on the issue of rural development.
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Last week, both the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities told the committee some cabinet-level responsibility for rural policy is needed.
Michel Roche, from the FCM, said an existing inter-departmental committee of officials dealing with rural issues is not powerful enough. It cannot create or implement policy, nor show leadership.
“The FCM believes the naming of a responsible minister is the best solution,” he said. “The proposition is to name a minister to provide a focal point in government.”
CFA president Jack Wilkinson said the small rural secretariat inside Agriculture Canada, plus interdepartmental committees are not good enough. Rural Canada continues to lose population and to fall behind service levels in urban Canada because governments are not committed to providing equal opportunities to rural Canadians.
“We think Agriculture Canada has to express a vision for rural Canada,” he told MPs.
The witnesses said it did not matter whether the responsible minister is agriculture, natural resources, human resources or a separate minister.
Better representation
The point is that it should be someone willing to represent rural issues at the cabinet table. In the last Throne Speech, the Liberal government promised to pay more attention to rural issues, but no strategy has emerged so far.
Terry Hayward, of the Agriculture Canada rural secretariat, told MPs that by September, action plans will be written for different rural issues and sectors.
But in the meantime, Wilkinson said, rural Canada continues to fall behind. He used telephone service as his example.
While the internet and the information highway are touted as the keys to success in the future, many rural areas continue to have poor telephone service, party lines or no service.
Wilkinson said there should be a national commitment to “universal access to and participation in the telecommunications and information technologies infrastructure.” Otherwise, said the farm leader, rural investment will falter, jobs will stay concentrated in the cities and rural depopulation will continue.
He also complained government deregulation policies often have hurt rural areas because firms prefer to concentrate service in dense population areas.
Again, Mitchell agreed.
“Privatization and deregulation can mean improved service in urban Canada but it can mean the end of service in rural Canada.”
