RPG NEWS

Rural Canada cannot be an afterthought in the country’s grand vision for economic growth

Last month, Canadians elected a new federal government with an ambitious mandate: to build “a strong economy that works for everyone.” In his mandate letter to ministers, Prime Minister Mark Carney outlines sweeping plans to redefine Canada’s place in a changing world, addressing everything from geopolitical instability to AI-driven productivity gains and massive infrastructure investments.

And yet, in this bold reimagining of Canada's future, there is one glaring omission: rural Canada.

Nowhere in the list of seven core priorities — ranging from trade diversification to housing affordability and immigration — is rural Canada directly acknowledged. It was also not mentioned in the Throne Speech delivered by King Charles earlier this week. This absence is troubling, not only because rural communities are essential to our national identity, but because they are central to solving precisely the challenges this government has set out to address.

As the Coalition for a Better Future’s 2025 Scorecard Report makes clear, rural Canada is foundational to our economic and social resilience. It “provides vital food, energy and critical minerals needed here and around the world.” These aren't peripheral concerns, they are at the heart of national security, climate policy, and global competitiveness.

Rural Canada is also where much of the infrastructure the government plans to build must happen: energy corridors, critical mineral supply chains, and sustainable housing solutions. It is where immigration strategies must land in real communities, not just urban centres. It is where skilled trades need to be nurtured, and where AI-powered efficiencies could be deployed to enhance service delivery across vast geographies.

The Rural Prosperity Group has urged policymakers and the private sector alike to adopt a rural lens across all decisions. Not as an afterthought or a regional checkbox, but as a strategic imperative. Whether you work on Bay Street or in broadband connectivity, you have a stake in rural success.

The government states that “Canada’s challenges are not small, but we can more than meet them with vigour and a constructive approach.” That must include recognizing rural communities not just as beneficiaries of policy, but as active builders of the country’s future.

The opportunity to connect rural priorities to national ones is not just good politics—it’s good policy. If Canada is to build “a strong economy that works for everyone,” it must start where that economy is rooted: in rural Canada.

CDNPOLI NEWS

Will the Carney government deliver on election promises to rural and remote communities?

**Prime Minister Mark Carney rises in the House of Commons for the first time as an MP. CPAC SCREENSHOT**

Residents of rural and remote communities will be adopting a very cautious wait and see attitude as Prime Minister Mark Carney puts his stamp on the federal government and fleshes out how he intends to fulfill his goal of unleashing a new era of economic growth for Canadians.

During the election campaign, Carney issued hundreds of millions of dollars worth of promises aimed at revitalizing economic and social conditions in the country’s small communities and rural areas.

He describes himself as a pragmatic, results-oriented leader and has shown a willingness to depart from Trudeau government policies. The Liberals’ signature consumer carbon tax was dropped, saving farmers more than $100 million a year, and Carney has expressed an openness to an energy corridor and conventional oil and gas development. He has nixed former finance minister Chrystia Freeland’s planned increase in the amount of capital gains subject to income tax and made a middle-class tax cut his first order of business.

And the prime minister has also expressed a willingness to listen more carefully to voices from outside the country’s large urban centres. He appointed newly elected Saskatchewan MP Buckley Belanger as secretary of state for rural development and for the first time arranged for a First Ministers’ meeting in Saskatchewan on June 2.

The challenges and issues confronting rural and remote Canada should get a hearing in the cabinet Carney announced May 13. Besides Belanger, the Liberal front bench includes Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald, Emergency Management and Community Resilience Minister Eleanor Olszewski, Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand and Transport and Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland.

One economy

An early test for the new government will be its ability to achieve one of Carney’s highly-promoted promises–quickly reducing the interprovincial trade barriers that have historically distorted and weakened the national economy.

With the cost of these impediments estimated to be as high as $1.7 billion annually for the agricultural sector, farmers are among those with the most to gain if this promised restructuring of interprovincial trade is successful.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Policy Advisory Council has identified three trade barriers of most urgent concern:

Trucking and transport regulations
Limitations on the sale of provincially inspected meat
Lack of cross-province mobility of skilled workers and licensed professionals

Beyond the high-priority issue of trying to create one Canadian economy, the Liberals’ election campaign also recognized rural Canada with detailed platform offerings on a wide range of initiatives and support programs. The pledges involve significant spending commitments and significant changes in the federal government’s approach.

Carney has also pledged to provide financial support for businesses damaged by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs while working out a new economic and security relationship with the U.S. At the same time, his government aims to bring about a major shift in Canadian exporters’ reliance on the American market by diversifying trade to Europe and the Pacific.

Cautiously hopeful

Whether the new government will deliver on these pledges is the overriding question. The Carney is up against massive demands–from increased defence spending to bailouts for tariff-stricken industries to much-needed national infrastructure projects–and a $46.8-billion deficit. But some Canadians appear cautiously hopeful about the prospects for improvements under the new federal government.

A recent poll by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said small business confidence is slowly regaining lost ground after crashing to historic lows in March. “Now that the federal election is over, there may be clearer guidance and renewed leadership on tariffs and other federal matters, and this and a somewhat de-escalating trade war may explain in part why small business sentiment is trending in the right direction again,” said Simon Gaudreault, CFIB’s chief economist and vice-president of research. “However, these are just timid beginnings of a rebound.”

Coalition for a Better Future co-chair Anne McLellan holds up the Coalition’s Scorecard, left. Coalition co-chair Lisa Raitt, pictured with advisory council members Paul Genest and Carolyn Wilkins. COALITION FOR A BETTER FUTURE PHOTO

Canada’s rural communities are key to building economic resilience: Coalition for a Better Future event panellists

BY CLARA SILCOFF

Canada’s economy is “off target,” and “developing Canada's rural communities is key to building our resilience,” says the latest Scorecard Report from the Coalition for a Better Future.

Rural communities “provide vital food, energy and critical minerals needed here and around the world. The message is clear. Canada needs to change course,” participants at the Scorecard Reporting Event on May 22 heard.

Carolyn Wilkins, external member of Bank of England’s financial policy committee and senior research scholar at Princeton, said investment is key for rural connectivity and the development of an end-to-end supply chain.

“We know that investment is really the engine of growth, and it’s the engine to our future. It’s what gives us the kind of connectivity that people in rural areas are looking for. It gives us our end-to-end supply chain and infrastructure enablers that allow projects to proceed,” she said.

Anne McLellan, co-chair of the Coalition, identified integration as key to Canadian economic growth. “If you’re going to build one Canadian economy, you really do have to engage all the key parts and get them all pulling in the same direction,” she said.

McLellan said projects should focus on being viable financially and socially accepted in communities, be they Indigenous or rural.

Alex Ciappara, head economist at the Canadian Bankers Association, said he thinks creating new growth in Canada means “building big infrastructure enabling projects to get our good services and people to markets for the 21st century.” He related this to building “dependable broadband for individuals in rural areas and semi-rural areas.”

Ciappara also suggested improving conventional energy security while growing renewable capacity, and supporting critical mineral projects.

Lisa Stilborn, vice president of public affairs at the Canadian Fuels Association, emphasized the importance of collaboration.

“The only way to unlock the inclusive investment that we’re talking about to meet the challenges we’re facing at the moment is to bring the east and the west together, rural and urban communities, governments, industries, and indigenous communities together,” she said.

Stilborn said the energy sector was a “natural partner” to agricultural and forestry businesses. “We work together,” she said.

Stilborn added the Canadian Fuels Association created 10,000 jobs across Canada, most of which are in rural communities. “With the right policy framework, I really think we can unlock many, many more jobs,” she said.

Todd Klink, executive vice-president of marketing and public affairs at Farm Credit Canada, said the agricultural industry, which connects with many sectors, has a generational opportunity to address ongoing challenges.

“We’re across the country—urban, rural, east, west—its everywhere. It's about collaboration. It's about coming together and thinking about some of the foundational industries like agriculture, like food, that employs a lot of Canadians,” he said.

THE Q&A

Grain farmers urge action on trade, infrastructure and innovation to secure rural prosperity

**Grain Growers of Canada executive director Kyle Larkin.**

As Canada navigates growing global demand for sustainable food and agricultural exports, the challenges and opportunities facing the grain sector are more urgent than ever.

“Grain farmers are the backbone of rural Canada,” says Kyle Larkin, executive director of Grain Growers of Canada. “When grain farmers are profitable and when grain farmers are successful, rural communities are successful.”

Canada’s 70,000 grain farmers play a critical role in both the national economy and rural communities, Larkin says, but Canada is falling behind in global competitiveness. In this Q&A with The Rural Roundup, Larkin shares insights on trade uncertainty, infrastructure gaps, and the need for targeted policy support to ensure the sector, and rural Canada, thrives.

The Q&A was edited for length and clarity.

RR: What are your biggest challenges right now?

KL: Canada is falling behind in terms of our position as an agrifood exporter on the global stage. Other countries are catching up and there's several reasons for this. I break it down to three silos.

The first one is our research and development and innovation here in Canada. Previously, we used to invest a lot more publicly and privately into plant breeding innovation — where crops are developed with better traits for a variety of different reasons, be they drought resistance or increasing yield. Research and development is hugely important for the grain sector and grain farmers alike. What we've seen on the public side, for example, is a decrease in investment dollars from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. And so we need that to come back up. We've also seen a decrease in private sector investment because of a lag in public sector investment. There's an opportunity for the public sector, for the government to incentivize and attract these private sector investments into Canada.

The second one is infrastructure and transportation. On the transportation side, we have two major railways, CN and CP, who very much act in a monopolistic way. This is very challenging for our supply chains. So, for example, grain farmers who live out west in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta rely over 90 per cent on rail transportation to get their grain from their farm to market — and market could be in Canada or could be globally.

So they're very much tied to these two railway companies. Their service delivery has been challenging year-over-year and it's certainly been challenging since January of this year. On top of that is our infrastructure challenges. Over 50 per cent of the grain that we produce in Canada goes through the Port of Vancouver. Most of the infrastructure was built in the ’40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. It is in need of a dire renewal. The Port of Vancouver would say the same thing. So that's another silo, that needs attention.

And then the third piece is trade — that's both growing the markets we currently have, but also looking at trade diversification. Two of our most primary markets, are the U.S. and China. So we've obviously had recent challenges with both of those countries. China currently has a 100 per cent tariffs on canola meal, canola oil and peas where we usually export over $8 billion worth of grain and grain products.

For the U.S. we export over $17 billion of grain and grain products. They are by far our largest trading partner. They're more than double our second largest trade partner in China and the uncertainty we've seen there has had a pretty large impact on the commodity prices that farmers get for their crops. So when they sell their wheat or their canola, or their barley, whatever it is, we've seen those prices go down. The margins have squeezed farmers.

The second piece of that is trade diversification. The Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific is huge for the sector. We have advocated for years for the government to open an office in the Asia-Pacific, like the US Department of Agriculture has. About three or four years ago, they opened the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agrifood Office (IPAAO) in Manila, Philippines. So now, there's a dedicated staff on the ground staff whose main role is to grow these markets and grow trade within Asia Pacific. The challenge is we have one office, and the USDA has had offices in all these countries for decades. The Indo-Pacific is a huge growth market. There's a big opportunity there.

RR: And what are the short-term challenges?

KL: For the short-term, it's three things: Restarting trade relationships with the U.S. and China. A permanent legislative solution to the carbon tax for on-farm activities. A permanent reversal of the capital gains tax increase. Those are the three things we're looking for in the first weeks of Parliament.

RR: How have grain farmers been affected by the Canada-U.S. trade war?

KL: A farmer in Manitoba will grow oats, and those oats will go down to the U.S. to about four or five states and go to a company like Quaker Oats, then transformed into Cheerios, and shipped back to Canada. The integrated supply chains are highly important. But the massive uncertainty from tariffs has had a big impact on commodity prices. Farmers are seeing input costs go up — fertilizers, seeds, pesticides — while prices for their crops have gone down. Their margins are being severely tightened. Over 90 per cent of farms in Canada are family-owned. When you have too many bad years, that's when you start losing farms.

RR: How does this affect rural Canada?

KL: Grain farms are the backbone of Rural Canada. You drive through any rural community, you’ll see plots of wheat, soybeans, corn. Farmers invest heavily in their communities — through equipment purchases, local agribusinesses, creating jobs and they're involved politically. They're not only there economically benefiting real communities, but they're also there politically benefiting communities and the last piece I would say they benefit their communities culturally. A lot of these farmers are the sixth or seventh generation farmers who have been in their community since the start of their rural townships.

RR: What policies can and should be in place to ensure a thriving sector?

KL: One tool that was helpful was ‘extended interswitching,’ which forced CN and CP to compete. That pilot expired in March 2025. The Liberal platform committed to a three-year extension—we’d like to see that implemented. We also need to look at increasing research dollars and incentivizing private investment from global players.

RR: What are some of the opportunities you see for grain farmers in terms of economic growth and prosperity?

KL: When grain farmers are successful, rural communities are successful. We need the government to implement a rural lens or grain farmer lens in all decisions. An example of where that didn’t happen was the carbon tax.

So if you filled up your combine, for example with diesel, you weren't charged the carbon tax. That was good, but they still charge the carbon tax for natural gas and propane, which is used in grain drying, which is an essential process. After you've harvested your grain, you need to make sure that you dry it so the moisture level is not too high because you'll risk spoilage. Grain dryers use propane or natural gas. That's the only thing people can use, and so they were being charged the carbon tax, because that rural lens wasn’t applied there unfortunately.

We had to fight for years to get natural gas and propane exempted for on farm activity, so that's an example of where there needs to be a lens implemented to some of these challenges, but again, there's massive opportunities. There's huge opportunities in terms of not only grain farmers to be more profitable, but also growing Canada’s economy.

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PROFILE

Ag Minister Heath MacDonald stresses importance of consulting, keeping an agricultural lens on all government decisions

**Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald pictured with staff from** **La Ferme Gillette Inc.in Embrun** **and newly elected Liberal MP Giovanna Mingarelli. FACEBOOK PHOTO**

P.E.I. MP Heath MacDonald, the surprise choice as the new Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister, says he understands the importance of putting a rural lens on every decision made by the federal government.

"You have to work closely with the other departments and those ministers and ensure that they fully understand that the decisions that they're making could have an impact on agriculture right across the country," he told CBC TV after Prime Minister Mark Carney named his cabinet on May 13. “That’s my job, to ensure that we’re heard at the cabinet table, and that’s what I intend to do.”

MacDonald, 59, whose favourite word in Parliament is “farmer,” is also signalling he recognizes the importance of reducing the regulatory burden and red tape on agricultural producers and helping find new markets for their products.

Responding to longstanding complaints from farmers, the Liberals have made clear they want the Pest Management Regulatory Agency and Canadian Food Inspection Agency to expand their criteria to balance health and safety concerns with the importance of food security and the cost of food. “Currently, these important agencies only look at their respective mandates through a health and safety lens,” the Liberal election platform said pointedly.

The government has to quickly address these regulatory issues, MacDonald says: "The bureaucracy is the bureaucracy, but we need to expedite it. We are in a time in this country that we've never seen before, so we all need to be shoulder to shoulder and working in the same direction."

MacDonald, who has a seat in the important Build Canada cabinet committee, also said it’s critical for the government to make good on its promise to achieve more independence from the U.S. by helping to expand other foreign markets for Canada’s agricultural and food exports, which now total nearly $100 billion annually. And he said the government must follow through on its pledge to reduce interprovincial trade barriers, which would be a major benefit to farmers.

Summing up these goals, MacDonald says: "We need to diversify our trade as quickly as possible. We need to remove our regulatory burdens on the industries and sectors that we're dealing with and we need to continue to invest in innovation and technology. We need to work on those as promptly and quickly as possible to ensure that we are competitive in a global market."

In keeping with the Carney Liberals’ vow to do a better job listening to all Canadians – a goal embodied in the prime minister’s arranging for a First Ministers meeting in Saskatchewan on June 2 – MacDonald says he is determined to spend more time outside Ottawa to consult with those in the ag sector.

“I could sit here and read binders all day, but boots on the ground, I can’t wait to get out of Ottawa, to be quite honest with you, and meet some of these farmers and these provincial ministers as well, to ensure that they understand who I am and what I’m made of, and what I can try to contribute to their success,” he says.

The new minister acknowledged he was surprised to be appointed to cabinet. “In this business, you just never know … where you’re going to land,” he says. Many in the farm sector had expected the job to go to Kody Blois, the well-liked Nova Scotia MP who had previously been agriculture minister. Some expressed disappointment that Blois was passed by, but it was generally felt that the choice reflected Carney’s need to have every province represented at the cabinet table.

MacDonald, who was re-elected in the riding of Malpeque, is the lone voice for the province of Prince Edward Island on Carney’s front bench. The agriculture portfolio was previously held by former P.E.I. MP Lawrence MacAulay, first from 2015 to 2019, and then again from 2023 until March this year.

Before being elected as an MP in 2021, MacDonald held the post of finance minister in the P.E.I. legislature. He suggested that experience could help him in his new role. “It allows me to have a better understanding of the financial resources required to progress the farming community and allows me to speak freely on certain things that maybe some others might not be aware of,” he says.

OP-ED

Reducing trade barriers in Atlantic Canada

BY SENATOR PERCY DOWNE

At long last, outrageously high interprovincial bridge and ferry tolls will be reduced in Atlantic Canada, and especially in Prince Edward Island, greatly assisting our ability to grow our regional economy.

Ten years after Justin Trudeau announced that he would remove the tolls on the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, completely reversing the national user-pay policy for federally owned infrastructure, and eight years after he promised—in response to a direct question about the toll on Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island — that he would “look at what can be done to make sure people are able to travel freely, travel efficiently and openly across this country at modest costs”, Prince Edward Islanders and Atlantic Canadians are catching a financial break.

Prime Minister Mark Carney immediately recognized the regional unfairness of high tolls in Atlantic Canada, as did Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre. In their respective platforms, both addressed the burden that represents the $50.25 toll on Confederation Bridge. Prime Minister Carney also committed to reducing “by more than half” the fares for passengers using the Wood Islands Ferry (currently $91 for a passenger vehicle), the Marine Atlantic service connecting Cape Breton to Newfoundland and Labrador (which can run up to almost $500 for a round trip), and the ferry service between Souris and the Magdalen Islands (again, $220 for a round trip by passenger car).

Unfortunately, for the last decade, Prince Edward Islanders have collectively paid millions in unfair tolls. Many Islanders have spoken to me about the impact tolls have had on their family finances, in particular those who had to travel out-of-province for medical treatment, such as parents of sick children, where one parent would stay with their child while the other would travel back and forth, incurring several hundred dollars in tolls.

I also heard many times about the toll driving up prices for consumers and Prince Edward Island businesses. For instance, in 2018, one exporter spent $66,000 on bridge tolls getting his produce to market; expenses his New Brunswick counterpart—and competitor—did not have to pay.

This reduction will help alleviate the cost of living for all Prince Edward Islanders and reduce expenses for our summer visitors. Atlantic Canadians will all benefit from the reduced cost of moving people and goods in the region.

Prince Edward Islanders are not getting any special treatment, only long overdue results. The reduction in tolls for both the year-round Confederation Bridge and the seasonal Wood Islands Ferry in eastern Prince Edward Island still means that the annual federal subsidy to support these vital infrastructures will remain less than federal government support for the Champlain Bridge in Montreal.

Given that both the Champlain Bridge—which cost over $4 billion to build—and Confederation Bridge—which cost $1 billion—are owned by the Government of Canada, Prince Edward Islanders have long wondered why this double standard where some Canadians benefitted from a toll-free bridge, while others were stuck paying $50.25 to cross, was not being corrected.

For one, when the issue was first raised, too many people sat on their hands rather than join the fight. Compare the Prince Edward Island response to what happened in Quebec: the provincial government requested that the federal government replace the aging Champlain Bridge in Montreal and they agreed that tolls were necessary to pay for the new bridge. With the understanding—and only with that understanding—was the new Champlain Bridge to be built.

Both the Governments of Canada and Quebec agreed on the need for a toll to cover the cost of construction, as was the case with the original Champlain Bridge, which had a toll from its opening in 1962 until 1990, when it was ultimately paid off.

This user-pay policy for federal transportation infrastructure was the standard for Canada.

Then the Government of Quebec switched its position and requested that no toll be charged on the bridge. The mayor of Montreal joined the chorus, along with many other individuals and groups. And in the middle of the 2015 election campaign, Justin Trudeau announced that he would make an exception for Montreal and eliminate the toll.

Quebec spoke with one voice and got the result it wanted.

Now in Prince Edward Island, where although there was widespread acknowledgement among Islanders that we were being gouged and treated like second-class Canadians, too many were silent. The defeatist attitude of a small minority was succinctly summarized in a Letter to the Editor in the Guardian newspaper in 2017 which stated, “forget the tolls fight . . . Concentrate on the possible, not the impossible.”

That lack of unity, compared to Quebec, slowed progress on reducing the tolls. But even slow progress is progress. The first success was the freezing of bridge tolls in 2020, eliminating yearly increases based on inflation. The second is the upcoming reduction of bridge and ferry tolls—to $20 for the Confederation Bridge and “by at least half” for the Wood Islands Ferry (currently $91 for a passenger vehicle)—but that amount is not carved in stone; after all, the federal government is still subsidizing the Champlain Bridge to a much higher degree. Which leaves the third step: efforts to further reduce the toll in the future.

As it stands now, Islanders have achieved a double victory, benefitting Islanders east and west. Because as important as the reduction of tolls on Confederation Bridge, the commitment to maintain the Wood Islands Ferry is equally important. The seasonal ferry service is vital to the economy of Eastern Prince Edward Island, providing direct access to Nova Scotia for commerce and tourism between the two provinces. Furthermore, it provides an important fallback in case Confederation Bridge ever becomes inoperable.

Prince Edward Islanders are finally getting the result they have been advocating for. The ultimate lesson of the past decade is in the value of unity when pursuing our provincial and regional objectives.

Percy Downe is a Senator from Charlottetown.

ICYMI

Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre. / FACEBOOK PHOTO

Poilievre sets up Economic Growth Council to recommend a new economic strategy

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre announced the creation of a Leader’s Economic Growth Council to study the economy and prepare a report on how the government can unleash the country’s full potential.

The Council will be chaired by MP Greg McLean and co-chaired by MP Gaétan Malette and former MP Rick Perkins.

Maclean, a former investment manager who has represented Calgary Centre since 2019, welcomed the appointment. “Canada has experienced weak economic growth, declining productivity, a rising cost of living, and lower real incomes for workers. People are paying the price, as wages fail to keep up with expenses, leaving an entire generation unable to afford homes or even basic necessities like food,” he wrote on Facebook. “This is an opportunity for me to outline a plan for a better approach.”

Perkins, a business executive and Conservative insider, was considered part of Poilievre’s brain trust. The leader named him the party’s critic for Innovation, Science and Industry in 2022. Perkins lost his Nova Scotia seat in the election.

Malette is the first MP elected in Kapuskasing-Timmins-Mushkegowuk, a new riding that is an expanded version of Timmins-James Bay, which was held for two decades by the NDP’s Charlie Angus, who left politics last year. Malette will draw on 45 years’ experience in forestry, agriculture, and mining in his role on the council.

The Council will consult widely and gather data, feedback and insight from businesses, labour organizations, non-profits, policy analysts, knowledge workers, innovators, and other stakeholders, the Conservatives said.

Members of the Council will be selected from all sectors and regions, and will include entrepreneurs, business leaders, labour leaders, innovators, inventors, knowledge leaders, Indigenous leaders and leaders who work in non-profit industries.

The goals are to study how to create:

Greater buying power with earnings that rise faster than prices so Canadians get better living standards.
More growth to fund stronger defence and borders and better social programs.

The Council will prepare a comprehensive report presenting findings and policy recommendations for Poilievre. The report will also be discussed in Parliament and may be tabled. A presentation of its key findings is planned for the 2026 Conservative National Convention, the party said.

Effective rural policy is critical to Canada’s security, stability and sovereignty

Canada must urgently address rural underinvestment to safeguard national security, social cohesion, and economic resilience amid overlapping crises, writes S. Ashleigh Weeden in Policy Options.

The op-ed highlights that “many of the biggest threats to — and opportunities for supporting — our sovereignty, security and stability can be found in rural and remote places.” Yet rural infrastructure remains neglected, and communities are often treated as “resource banks,” with benefits flowing elsewhere. Internet access, healthcare, and clean water remain spotty, despite long-standing policy promises. Recent tensions with the U.S. and threats like potential misuse of Canadian health and agricultural data underscore the need for stronger rural protections.

Weeden warns: “Your postal code should not determine your quality of life.” Rural decline, Weeden argues, results not from globalization but from political neglect. Canada needs a serious national strategy that empowers rural regions, counters “rural resentment,” and recognizes the interdependence between urban and rural populations to protect the country’s future.

Agri-food workforce strategic plan under development

Canada’s agriculture and food manufacturing sectors are critical to the economy but face mounting challenges, including labour shortages, aging workforces, and global disruptions. To address these issues, the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council and partners are developing a National Workforce Strategic Plan (NWSP) aimed at building sector resilience through technology, inclusive HR practices, and collaborative workforce planning. While each province has unique labour challenges, the NWSP is fostering nationwide collaboration to secure the long-term sustainability of the agri-food sector.

Half of Quebecers don't have first responder services in their communities: report

Half of Quebec’s population lives in communities with no first responder service, according to a new auditor general report, The Canadian Press reported. The findings follow longstanding numerous calls to improve access to potentially life-saving first aid.

Recommendations made by a government-mandated committee in 2014 called for the province to take steps to ensure first responders were available across the province. As of September 2024, 70 per cent of communities were without such service.

Rural communities are in greatest need of first responders, Interim Quebec auditor general Alain Fortin said, because there are fewer ambulances compared to urban centres, and the size of the territory can delay response times.

The government’s pre-hospital care plan includes the goal of increasing the percentage of the population who have access to first responders from 50 to 80 per cent by 2028. But agreements have not been made on how to finance these services.

Opposition parties accused Premier François Legault's government of failing to act to improve care. Québec solidaire member Vincent Marissal said the issue is a "failure all down the line."

"If you get sick … good luck. That's what we're telling people," he said.

Rural Ontario MPP opposes landfill expansion amid backlash in Dresden

A Progressive Conservative MPP from rural southwestern Ontario is speaking out against his own government’s plan to cancel an environmental assessment for a controversial landfill expansion near Dresden.

Steve Pinsonneault, who represents Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, said he is "angry" over the move, which is part of an omnibus bill that would also let cabinet override laws for “special economic zones” and weaken endangered species protections.

The proposed 30-fold expansion of a dormant site near the rural community has sparked fears of contamination and ecological damage. Local waterways flow into the Sydenham River, home to endangered species like the spiny softshell turtle.

Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff warned the landfill would devastate Dresden: “You’re basically signing a death certificate... you might as well just put up the closed for business sign.”

Walpole Island First Nation has called for a moratorium, citing threats to ecosystems, sovereignty, and public health.

Premier Doug Ford argues the change is necessary to shore up Ontario’s waste capacity, as the province currently sends 40 per cent of its waste to the U.S.

'Under a microscope': Cottagers call for wildfire management plans after fatal fires

Cottage owners and disaster prevention experts in Manitoba are calling for governments to develop wildfire management plans following devastating wildfires, The Canadian Press reported.

Almost 1,000 people near the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet were forced from their homes as a wildfire, which started on May 13, burned nearby.

The fire destroyed 28 homes and cottages and caused two fatalities.

"I've never seen fire devastation at that level," said Brad Wood, a Winnipeg firefighter whose cottage was destroyed.

Wood is calling on all levels of government to work with local cottage owners to create or update emergency responses to wildfire dangers. He said emergency plans for every municipality should be “under a microscope review”

Gordon Campbell, president of the Lester Beach Association in the Rural Municipality of Alexander, said he and other members went to officials asking for a wildfire management plan. He said progress has been slow and that municipalities are being reactive instead of proactive.

According to Manitoba’s fire map, which was accessed on May 26, the fire is under control.

Ontario adding 2,600 teacher candidate spaces amid shortage in northern and rural areas

Ontario is adding 2,600 spaces to teacher colleges across the province in the face of a worsening teacher shortage, The Canadian Press reported.

Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn said the money will go towards adding new spaces at all schools offering a bachelor of education program, and will start being available as early as this September.

There is a particular focus on northern and rural areas, technological education and French, which Quinn said are areas in heightened need.

There is a shortage of teachers that is predicted to worsen starting in 2027.

Steve Orsini, the president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities, said though universities welcome funding, the government is not providing needed amounts of operating funding.

Ontario colleges and universities are increasingly struggling with finances in the face of low provincial funding, and say the additional $1.3 billion in funding over three years announced last year by the province does not come close to sustaining the sector.

G7 expected to boost economy and fill hotels in Calgary and mountain towns

The upcoming G7 summit in Kananaskis is expected to deliver a major economic boost to the Calgary region, with local leaders anticipating hundreds of millions in benefits.

"This is a huge lift to the Calgary region," Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce told CBC. She estimates the summit will generate $190 million for Calgary’s economy and $240 million for Alberta overall.

Although the summit will take place in Kananaskis from June 15–17, much of the support infrastructure will be based in Calgary. Sol Zia, executive director of the Calgary Hotel Association, said 10,000 hotel room bookings are expected in the region, with an estimated 45,000 hotel room nights and $13 million in accommodation revenue.

“We’re expecting about 2,500 various levels of services … that will be staying in Calgary and region for [an] extended period,” said Zia, noting security services arriving are 2½ times higher than initially planned.

The pressure on hotel availability is heightened by other major events in June, including the Global Energy Show and the Rotary International Convention. As a result, universities like Mount Royal and the University of Calgary are housing visiting personnel.

Meanwhile, Canmore and Kananaskis hotels are fully booked, and local restaurants are seeing increased demand. “We’re hearing many positive anecdotal reports from local businesses,” said Rachel Ludwig, CEO of Tourism Canmore Kananaskis. “Hotels are at full capacity and restaurants are seeing higher-than-usual bookings.”

Leaders from the G7 countries and the European Union are expected to attend the summit.

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