It is time to address the rural, urban divide that has been expanding by federal government neglect.

In recent years, the national media have extensively discussed the rise in economic, political and cultural importance of large metropolitan centres or mega cities. Academics such as Richard Florida, now at the University of Toronto, affirm that national prosperity is tied to the vibrancy of its urban centres and their “creative class.” There are scenarios about cities overtaking provincial and national governments as the true loci of the nation’s economic and political power.

Amid this cacophony of urban news, one could be forgiven for shrugging at the latest Census data which show rural Canada’s share of the national population falling below 20% for the first time in the nation’s history. Many of our political and intellectual leaders have done just that. Commenting on the census data, Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson, in a column titled “Goodbye rural Canada, and hello most urban of countries,” wrote that rural Canada “has become so irrelevant demographically that it increasingly exists only in myth.” Somehow, for some observers, rural Canada just doesn’t matter or, at least, should not matter as much as it does.

There is a fatal flaw in this line of thinking. It assumes that urban Canada’s prosperity is somehow detached from the fate of rural Canada. It forgets that rural Canada is where we produce the vast agricultural, mineral, forestry, fisheries and energy wealth that pulse through our urban centres and are exported around the world. It does not mention the increasing desire among urban Canadians for a tangible connection with rural life. It ignores 20% of the population or six million people – six million Canadians, six million fellow citizens that should, ostensibly, be as much a part of the national discussion as anyone else.

Two years ago, the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry which I have the honour of chairing, initiated a study on rural poverty and rural decline in Canada. I am pleased to announce the release of our final report Beyond Freefall: Halting Rural Poverty. This report is long overdue. In fact no other federal parliamentary committee has previously written a report exclusively on rural poverty.

The report is comprehensive at over 360 pages and contains 68 recommendations that respond to the concerns presented to committee by over 330 witnesses made up of rural policy and poverty experts and rural Canadians from every province and territory.

The committee feels quite strongly that for far too long rural Canada has taken a backseat in federal policy development. To address this, the committee recommends the creation of a Department of Rural Affairs whose minister would sit at cabinet and champion the concerns of rural citizens.

One of the first tasks of the new Department of Rural Affairs is to help move at least 10% of the federal employees currently working in large urban centres to smaller towns in rural Canada, a practice that has shown to create important economic benefits to destination communities and will save money in the long-term.

The evidence also showed that rural Canadians lag behind their urban counterparts on a number of fronts, including educational attainment, health status, incomes and employment. To a large extent, these outcomes can be traced back to a relentless process of change and pressures of technology and global competition that have erased thousands of jobs in some of the mainstays of the rural economy, namely agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and mining.

Our nation needs to have a serious discussion about its forestry sector, a crucial part of the rural economy that has seen tens of thousands of good jobs disappear almost overnight with little discussion or action on the part of our political leadership. We also think it is high time that urban Canadians recognize the value of all the ecological goods and services provided by farmers and rural landowners. In fishery-based communities, we urge the federal government to provide more financing for local wharves and harbours. We ask that the federal government set firm targets for expanding broadband Internet access to all rural areas of the country because, as is, roughly half of all communities (mostly rural) do not have high-speed Internet access.

These actions will not, on their own, raise the profile of rural issues or address the needs of rural residents, especially the rural poor. To that end, the committee recommends that the federal government work with the provinces to devise a national anti-poverty strategy sensitive to important urban/rural differences such as the transportation challenges that define in large measure what it means to live in rural Canada. We also urge a new daycare program and education funding programs that are similarly sensitive to rural realities.

The committee also recognizes that rural communities have a responsibility and desire to be their own agents of change. To that end, we propose measures that would make it easier for rural small businesses to prosper and for volunteers, who play a vital role in rural Canada, to raise money.

So, can we do it? Can we put rural Canada back on the policy agenda? Can we ensure that the next generation of rural poor is not ignored? The committee thinks we can and, moreover, that we must. The recommendations outlined here and in our report are an important step in that objective, but ultimately the place to begin is by recognizing that rural and urban residents need each other. This is not about us versus them but about how we, as citizens of a great rural and urban nation, can come together to ensure a more prosperous future for all.

Senator Joyce Fairbairn
Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry

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