The Trudeau government doesn’t care about rural Canada

KAMOURASKA, QUE.—The summer is almost over, and with it, the massive retreat of urban visitors from the rural areas that are Canada’s summer playgrounds. I see them from June until now on the Trans-Canada Highway nearby, the Ontario licence plates speeding east to Atlantic Canada, or returning back. They may be tourists who decided to pass on Maine or Massachusetts this year, or they are folks from “down home” visiting family and friends before returning “upalong.” In Kamouraska, we get several hundred visitors per day, mostly French-speaking from Quebec City or Montreal. The average Ontarian is more than likely unaware of Kamouraska’s reputation as the most beautiful village in Quebec, and speeds by. Once autumn comes, visitors slow to a trickle and reality sets in. In rural Canada, beneath the surface of the quaint restaurants and scenic views, there are real problems, most of which are not high on the political agenda of those in power. Some of those challenges were showcased this summer, and not in a good way. The wildfires across the country struck rural Canada far more than the cities. Sure, there were changes in urban air quality, but few big-city dwellers were burned out of their homes or forced to flee. The same can be said of the people in coastal areas like our own, who have to think about the long-term impacts of climate change. As a municipal councillor, I worry about our shoreline infrastructure, which is critical to our farms, or for protection from flooding. And yet, while governments spend billions on a new tramway in Quebec City, subways in Toronto, or the Réseau express métropolitain transit system in Montreal, we get nothing, despite being on the front lines of climate change. We currently need a few million dollars to rebuild our wharf, which acts as a barrier to winter ice and protects several dozen homes from flooding. Our extensive system of dikes is seeing the effects of erosion on its efficiency. But government funding for either is as scarce as hen’s teeth. And although $1-million is chump change to the rich, no one has come forward to contribute. We are on our own. It is the same across Atlantic Canada, where the needs of millions of people in coastal communities are ignored. The same could be said for small towns affected by wildfires. Where are the fire-protection zones being cut out of the woods around rural villages, or the investments in water bombers? Why is it people are losing their homes, instead of being secure in them? Paradoxically in Kamouraska, the summer has been one of seemingly perpetual rains: the fellow who cuts my field says he has never seen the grass as thick. In a neighbouring town, the rains overwhelmed the filtration system, and the townspeople had to do without water for four days until the system could be cleared. If that happened in a large city, there would be riots; instead, people coped. Which brings me to the federal cabinet visit to Charlottetown, P.E.I., this week. The No. 1 item was the housing crisis, a mostly urban issue. Mike Moffatt, who spoke to cabinet, likely focused almost exclusively on rental accommodation and urban housing. Instead of listening to academics, the cabinet should have gone out to the villages of Prince Edward Island and talked to people there: they would have got an earful. Because out here in the “boonies,” we have plenty of land (some of which needs to be rezoned) and a labour shortage, but no special housing funds or incentives. Add to that a demographic “bomb” with huge swaths of the population over the age of 50—immigrants would be welcomed. Whether in P.E.I., Alberta, or Kamouraska, rural Canada can accommodate new people and new construction, but no one is listening. The reason for this inequity comes down to politics: the Liberal party base is in urban Canada, so that is where the money goes. While naïve types like me might think every part of the country deserves attention, clearly some Canadians are “more equal than others.” So, for all the sympathy expressed by elected officials for Canadians displaced by wildfires and floods this summer, the real money goes to the urban areas that count at the ballot box. Andrew Caddell is retired from Global Affairs Canada, where he was a senior policy adviser. He previously worked as an adviser to Liberal governments. He is a town councillor in Kamouraska, Que. He can be reached at pipson52@hotmail.com. The Hill Times