The province of Ontario, through its new ministry (February 2013) of Rural Affairs has announced a rural roadmap
It declares its priorities to be aimed at building on the strengths of Ontario’s rural communities. These include:
- Developing a small, rural and northern municipal infrastructure program based on consultations with community leaders that will provide more predictable, reliable and sustained funding for consideration in the 2014 Ontario Budget
- Focusing on manufacturing — rural Ontario’s second largest industry based on employment — to ensure the industry will continue to innovate, grow and successfully compete in today’s economy
- Continuing to provide rural-specific health care investments through the Small and Rural Hospital Transformation Fund, which has improved patient care in up to 64 hospitals across the province
- Continuing to revitalize communities, create jobs and grow local and regional economies through the Rural Economic Development Program
- Advancing a framework to help grow rural Ontario’s digital economy and working to address the existing gaps in rural Ontario’s broadband connectivity
- Creating a formal process to ensure government policies and programs reflect the needs and realities of rural communities
