Canada experiencing a ‘Rural Renaissance’: Fournier
Canada is experiencing a “Rural Renaissance” as internal migration shifts tens of thousands of residents from major metropolitan areas to smaller cities and rural regions, writes Joseph Fournier, Senior Fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. It’s a trend accelerated by the pandemic and housing affordability crises, he writes in an op-ed. He argues that the pandemic revealed Canada’s vulnerability in being overly dependent on global supply chains, noting that “a nation that cannot produce essential goods cannot protect its people. Economic sovereignty is national security.”
Generative AI is reshaping the labour market, making trades like welding, pipefitting, and construction increasingly critical, since “the jobs that replaced trades are now among the most vulnerable to automation.”
Rural and mid-sized communities offer affordable land, attainable housing and space for energy-intensive industries, while also fostering social capital and mental health benefits, he notes.
Canada faces a choice, he wrote: “It can cling to an urban-centric model that no longer serves it, or it can embrace the dispersed, resilient and productive future already taking shape across its rural heartlands.”
