Gerry Ritz, rural Saskatchewan MP and a junior minister in the federal cabinet responsible for small business and tourism issues, says he is sympathetic to the idea of creating a rural ministry in the federal government.
“I think it’s a great idea,” he said. “Like everything in government, there’s pieces and parts addressed in a number of different departments but there’s nobody quarterbacking it.”
Ritz said he has discussed the idea with representatives of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities but at this point there is no government decision to propose such a ministry.
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“It hasn’t gone past the policy stage within the party itself.”
Some members of SARM came away from discussions with Ritz believing that he was working to develop a rural ministry plan for the Conservative government.
Ritz said while Agriculture Canada is responsible for rural affairs within the government, rural issues are broader than agriculture.
Earlier before a Senate committee studying rural poverty, a rural representative of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities made a pitch for creation of just such a ministry.
Canada’s troubled and declining rural communities need a dedicated department in the federal government and a champion around the cabinet table, said Don Johnson, chair of the federation’s rural forum and president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties.
He said that during his trip to Ottawa he had paid a visit to Agriculture Canada to discuss rural issues.
He found little focus.
“Sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle so I really struggle with the fact that there is not a clear ministry that can direct and dedicate resources and be an advocate within cabinet on behalf of rural communities,” Johnson told senators.
Big city mayors can get media coverage and the attention of the prime minister, he said.
“But for the reeve of a small rural county or village, where do they go?”
Johnson made it clear he thinks there are serious problems in rural Canada.
“Although Canada’s rural communities are critical to our economic, social and environmental fabric, a growing number of rural communities are struggling,” he said.
“They face increasing poverty, weakening economies, deteriorating infrastructure and an aging population. Worst of all, they are losing their young people, who have left in search of other opportunities, and as a result, rural communities are losing their capacity to foster economic activity and maintain a high quality of life.”
Johnson said investments in infrastructure, extension of broadband access and retention of such institutions as schools, post offices and recreation facilities are part of the solution.
Rural areas will not be able to attract professionals if they cannot offer amenities.
“A rural doctor will not go there if his wife does not want to be there, if the children cannot play hockey or soccer, go to the ballet or take music lessons.”
He said governments and urban Canadians should recognize that the fates of both rural and urban regions are intertwined and there are special challenges for rural areas.
“Only then can we get on with the work of closing the growing divide between urban and rural, a divide that is creating two Canadas: one urban, populous (and) the other rural, depopulated and poor.”
