Mr. Speaker, apparently, the, not so new, Conservative government does not seem to understand the term “rural community”. Perhaps they think it means neglect, abandonment, isolation, and unending vastness.
For the people in my region and in those of many of my colleagues, living in a rural area means continuing to play an active role in the decisions that contribute to our own development, as well as being supported by the government.
We do not scorn urban areas, because we provide them with resources, but we simply want a fair share of the taxes we invest in collective development to be invested in our right to live in rural areas.
Centralized programs, confined by their inflexible framework, frustrate our desire to be at the heart of the world, like anyone else. It is time for the Conservative government to stop playing the new kid on the block who knows only how to improvise. It is time for the government to discover, understand and respect the rural reality.