Rural Canada must be part of economic growth agenda
Coalition for a Better Future co-chairs, the Hon. Lisa Raitt and Hon. Anne McLellan join Dairy Farmers of Canada CEO Jacques Lefebvre for a fireside chat about how rural and small-town Canada is integral to enhancing economic growth.
Rural Canada is expected to support this country's economic growth and big wins on the world stage, but governments are not prioritizing the issues critical to that success, say the co-chairs of the Coalition for a Better Future.
Speaking to delegates at the Dairy Farmers of Canada annual general meeting in Winnipeg last month, Lisa Raitt and Anne McLellan said that must change.
“Rural and small-town Canada needs to be able to be an important part of the economic growth agenda for the future,” McLellan, a former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister, told delegates. “One of the tragic truths of politics is that parties and leaders go where the votes are.”
In a fireside chat with the co-chairs, DFC CEO Jacques Lefebvre said rural Canada faces different challenges than urban areas, such as retaining a workforce, lacking broadband internet and other infrastructure gaps. As a result, rural Canada feels left behind, he said.
“We expect farmers to be innovative, to adopt the newest technologies, but at the same time, they don't have access to broadband internet. We expect that dairy farmers and farmers, in general, will ensure food safety for our country and leverage it for economic prosperity through exports,” he said. “As a country, rural Canada is positioned incredibly. We've got fertile soils, land, know-how in agriculture, water resources. We’re so well positioned. So how do we get politicians to recognize that and not just say we're expecting you to, you know, participate in the economy? ‘We want you to ensure food safety, but we're not enabling you.’ How do you reconcile that?”
In response, Raitt said it’s important to continue talking about the positive stories and opportunities for sectors like dairy.
“I think you’re doing really, really well,” said Raitt, a former Conservative cabinet minister for Natural Resources, Transport and Labour.
She said people in other sectors are discussing how dairy farmers effectively communicate their net zero goals.
“You were used as an example of how an industry has communicated very effectively the things that they're doing in order to reduce emissions as opposed to what they may have felt that they're not doing in their sector. So having that positive view, I think, is one piece of it,” Raitt said.
McLellan, whose Liberal government promised high-speed internet access in rural and remote areas as far back as 1996, noted that infrastructure conversations almost always centre around urban needs and rural stakeholders need to be at the table from the beginning. Currently, only 53 per cent of rural and remote Canada have broadband access, compared to 90 per cent of urban Canadians.
Raitt agreed, noting that a rural lens is applied to the Coalition’s Scorecard metrics to keep track of how Canada is doing on economic growth based on 21 internationally-recognized indicators. This is important because we can’t take rural Canada’s contribution to economic growth for granted, she said.
A dairy farmer asked a question from the floor on whether there is a role for individual farmers to play in ensuring economic prosperity.
“Dairy farmers play a leading role in production in Canada. We play a leading role as part of rural Canada, as part of ag. Is there a role for the individual dairy farmer in supporting the development and ensuring that we have a plan for the future?”
Raitt’s response was unequivocal: “Absolutely,” she said. “The road to economic prosperity runs through the rural communities. That's where we're going to have our growth, and you have to remember that, that when you're having your political discussions, it's not just about big cities. It has to be about what happens in rural and remote Canada.”
Making economic growth a “watercooler discussion for the average Canadian” is also essential in bringing rural Canada’s issues into the national conversation. “I point to what Anne McLellan's government had to do, which was get the country focused on the fact that we had a major debt and deficit problem in the ’90s and extreme measures would have to be taken in order to improve our credit rating, and then we all got it. We talked about it at kitchen tables, and we all strive for it together. That I thought was very effective,” Raitt said. “You can see that when Canadians understand the importance of long-term economic growth, communicate it to their folks; that's important. It's important to make sure that discussion happens on a rural basis.”
Infrastructure needed in rural Canada to attract and retain talent
Another farmer asked about “economic development versus economic growth and how we are lagging behind.” He said Canada used to develop infrastructure before needing economic growth, and now we’re trying to catch up on both.
Raitt responded that Canada is no longer “thinking about developing infrastructure in order to enhance economic growth.” Instead, the United States has been “pumping up their economy full of money in order to incite developments in R&D, cleantech, carbon capture energy transmission” and more – forcing Canada to respond.
“They had to respond because otherwise, you're going to be left out of the mix. So they've responded,” Raitt said. “Some folks will say ‘it's efficient, or too much.’ Others will say, ‘not even scratching the surface. It's not really helping.’ And we're gonna have to see what it means. Different provinces are taking different approaches.”
Infrastructure is also crucial to attracting talent to rural areas, especially with the significant increase in immigration targets.
“We've seen immigration go up in Canada these past few years. But there seems to be a concentration for these new Canadians to go to the urban centres. And there's such a need for workforce out in rural Canada and, again, to play its fullsome role in the economy. Is there anything from a policy perspective that could be done to reconcile this?” Lefebvre asked.
McLellan said people coming to Canada naturally gravitate towards urban centres. “Part of it is about infrastructure and the kinds of infrastructure they need to establish themselves in a new country,” she said.
For example, newcomers might need a car and rely on public transportation, which might not be available in rural towns. Additionally, there may not be the cultural diversity that newcomers also look for.
“You want to be with people who share those cultural values. That's a natural human sentiment. So in a way that all works against rural and small town Canada,” she said but told the delegates about what Nova Scotia is doing to attract immigrants to rural parts of the province.
“You have to act with intentionality,” she said, pointing out that if you want people to go to rural areas, there needs to be support to help those newcomers succeed.
“You have to have the infrastructure that will attract people. Absolutely. New Canadians have certain aspirations for their children. And unless you can convince them that there are good schools and where their children will be welcome, they're not going to go there. They will go to a place that offers that. What someone like former Premier (Stephen) McNeil did in Nova Scotia was act with intention with a focus like a laser on the fact that Nova Scotia would not succeed in the future if they did not have an intentional focus strategy to bring new Canadians into that province.”
Raitt agreed, saying we must show people in other countries the benefits of living in rural Canada.
“I think the federal government should be asked to put far more emphasis, intentionality, on rural Canada and the opportunities that are there.”
“It is about the infrastructure, but more particularly, it is about housing. It is about transit. It is education. … The reality is that unless you show folks in other countries the opportunities of living in rural Canada, they're not going to know about it,” she said. “And I think the federal government should be asked to put far more emphasis, intentionality, on rural Canada and the opportunities that are there. Because if you're coming from a large city in India, maybe you don't want to go to another large city like Toronto, and maybe that you want to have a quieter pace of life that is still fulfilling, but we should give people the opportunity to see that, and I don't think we do. We rely upon these agents around the world that are selling a ticket to Toronto or Montreal. And it's really doing us a disservice.”
That’s why data and long-term thinking are essential, McLellan said.
“It's not a one, and you're done. You have to act with intentionality. You have to be clear in terms of the outcomes you want to achieve. You need metrics in terms of whether you're achieving your goals, but you have to stick with it,” she said. “You are not going to change the migration patterns of new Canadians by simply one year's worth of policy attention. It will take decades.”
Pointing to the Coalition’s Scorecard, Raitt said measuring progress is necessary if Canada wants to remain competitive.
“The scorecard is the differentiator,” she said. “It makes us have the ability, on an annual basis, to share with Canadians how we are doing as a nation against other countries in really important indicators that matter to Canadians.”
The metrics in the Scorecard under the three themes of Growing Sustainably, Living Better and Winning Globally will be measured annually until 2030.
“It’s not Anne and Lisa sitting down and writing this out on the back of the napkin,” Raitt said. “This was a well thought out, well-resourced project that ended up having an Advisory Council to take a look at it as well to make the determination that yes if by 2030 we hit the targets that we have set for the country, we will be the most inclusive, sustainable country and be on the path of economic growth.”
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