Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the committee for inviting SARM to appear here today to give a rural perspective on transit and some of our issues.
SARM is an independent association that represents all 296 of Saskatchewan's rural municipalities. Membership is voluntary, and our strength comes from our members whose collective voice guides us in policy.
The issues that are of greatest importance to SARM members are issues that impact the quality of life and the productivity of rural communities. SARM wants to again thank the committee for allowing us this opportunity to present and to bring attention to rural transit issues.
In reviewing testimony from the last hearings, we were pleased to see that a number of committee members raised the need for some rural focus and clearly understand that all Canadians deserve access to basic transportation. We are aware that in a time of economic challenges, it is difficult for governments to commit large amounts of funding to new national programs.
We are here today to say that SARM recognizes the challenges of our urban counterparts with regard to public transit. We are also here today to tell you about the unique transit challenges that we face as rural municipalities and communities in Saskatchewan.
When you think of rural communities, you don't normally think of public transit, but there is an important part of the rural population that relies on public transit systems to access essential services and employment opportunities. In addition, rural Canada houses the industries that fuel growth in the rest of Canada. The natural resources, energy, agriculture products, and raw materials extracted from rural areas now make up 50% of Canada's exports. This generates positive economic benefits to all levels of government through the revenues they generate, the people they employ, and the taxes they pay.
SARM is here today to advocate on behalf of our membership and to ask that rural areas not be forgotten when federal transit strategies are created and funding is allocated, either through the national public transit strategy or as part of the next national infrastructure program.
It is a well-known fact that the majority of health, education, social services, and other provincially and federally funded essential services that used to be more readily available in rural areas have been centralized in strategic urban centres across Canada. A good example to draw on is the ability of rural citizens to access quality health care.
In 2001, the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada indicated that 14.9% of Canada's physicians practised in rural areas in 1991. By 1996, this number had dropped to 9.8%. The same report projects the ratio of physicians per 1,000 population in rural areas to decrease from 0.79, in 1999, to 0.53 by 2021.
This report also states that rural hospital closures and centralization of many health services in larger cities means that rural residents have more difficulty accessing services.
In order for Saskatchewan residents living and working in rural Saskatchewan to access such essential services, they need to have options via publicly funded and reliable transit services. Special consideration needs to be given to the portion of rural population that cannot travel by private vehicle to access such services. The elderly, the youth, the disabled, and low-income families with limited or no access to a private vehicle cannot drive to schools and hospitals, etc.
According to Statistics Canada's 2008 “Rural and Small Town Canada Analysis Bulletin”, Canada's rural population is older than the urban population. Within predominantly rural regions, 15% of the population is senior, compared to 13% in predominantly urban regions.
Industry housed in rural areas needs to have access to a reliable base of employees and often in rural areas this base is spread out and is not concentrated in a centre. They also need to be able to access cost-effective transit options to ship or to have shipped to them products such as office supplies, computers, IT hardware, and components used in the fabrication of products, as well as being able to ship finalized products to their customers. Home-based rural businesses rely especially on such services.
The transit of employees to and from work and the transit of goods being shipped via public transit to and from rural industries are important both to the overall productivity of rural-based industries and to the livelihood of rural citizens. This is something that all rural Canadians should have access to, and government funding from all levels should be allocated to such transit companies, to be maintained in the future.
If the government decides to proceed with a national public transit strategy, cost-shared federal government funding earmarked for rural transit needs must be allocated. This transit provides those in rural communities who do not have the ability or cannot afford to drive with a reliable and sustainable transit option to access essential services, and therefore, it is a public good.
It should not be solely the responsibility of municipal governments to fund such systems. It must be earmarked so that rural municipalities are not competing with urban municipalities for the same lump sum. It is hard to fairly rank and compare small-scale rural projects that might service smaller populations over a vast area to urban projects that service large populations in a more concentrated area.
Municipalities should contribute funding, but federal and provincial government funding should be made available also. This funding should be provided outside of what is provided by the federal gas tax fund, as that funding is already fully allocated to service roads, water systems, and other tangible infrastructure in rural municipalities. It should not only fund new initiatives, but should also support existing transit solutions, such as, in Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan transportation corporation, which is currently offered in the province of Saskatchewan, to ensure the long-term sustainability of companies and our citizens.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.