Brace Yourselves - Unless we Learn from Others, the Long, Bumpy Ride for Rural Communities Has Just Begun

By Mike Stolte (originally published in the Nelson Daily News - October 23, 2009)

“The best chance of survival for the human race is self-reliant local development.”

John Bryden, President, International Rural Network at the 2009 OECD Rural Development Conference

Russia has placed top priority on saving its 400 single industry (rural) towns. Finland plans to make ultra-fast (100 MB/s – many times faster than current speeds) broadband available for each and every resident by 2015, an expensive proposition at the rural level but one the government is committed to undertaking. Quebec has set up 33 laboratories in rural communities so that they can become innovative and productive, a key to provincial prosperity. Scotland has reformed its land system so that communities can harvest local resources (community energy and forest corporations, etc.), ensuring rural communities remain viable. In rural Kenya cell phones are creating a productivity revolution and boast usage rates higher than rural areas in many Western countries.

These are some of the things I learned as one of two BC delegates (the other being Selkirk College’s George Penfold) at the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Rural Development Conference last week in Quebec City. I felt a little bit like a kid in a candy shop, talking about things like climate change, new forest uses and effective rural policy with interesting, passionate people from all over the world.

While good innovative stuff is happening, the mood was decidedly sober. The odds are tilting against small communities now more than ever. Foreign debt clouds the future. The World Bank reported that the economic crisis has inordinately affected rural in emerging Eastern European countries. They have little internal capacity (sound governance practices or structures, training, education). It’s the same story in Africa reported the UN, where cash-strapped Western countries are abandoning rather inexpensive training commitments that these countries desperately need.

In the US, huge deficits at both federal and state levels, means the taps might get turned off. This is bad news for small and rural everywhere, who typically don’t have the expertise, resources or capacity to deal with big changes - uneven income flows or the technical expertise to deal with climate change, which most experts believe will inordinately affect rural (the fishers, farmers and foresters of the world).

Recessions traditionally affect rural first and most severely. Up until now, central governments have supported them through the tough times with equalization payments and other types of support (EI, retraining if workers, etc.). Despite compelling evidence that this works (in the short term at least), the current ‘market will take care of things’ obsession combined with burgeoning government debts means rural might be in trouble.

And let’s face it. ‘Rural’ is not particularly sexy for politicians. It’s often equated with farming (despite a minority of rural Canadian communities being agricultural), often marginalizing rural issues in slow-moving agricultural departments. Most policy makers rarely set foot outside the big cities. Immigrants virtually all end up in the big cities. And, if you listen to reports in the news, rural is dead if not dying (although Canada’s rural population has remained pretty much stable since 1940).

The reality is that study after study recognizes that rural and small town Canada is important. Providing equal access to services for rural Canadians is fair and the right thing to do. The very notion of being Canadian, our collective values, our heritage and culture were born in rural Canada (e.g. Dog River, Saskatchewan of Corner Gas fame). Japan recognizes the cultural importance of its rural origins and now educates its urban citizens on the rural urban linkages. Almost all the major issues of our times – food, water, environmental security, climate change, water – have a significant rural dimension.

Progressive jurisdictions like Quebec have recognized the critical interdependence of rural and urban Canada and see the investment in rural as an investment in their ‘national’ economy (rural GDP growth is outpacing urban). They’ve created flexible regional governance arrangements allowing creative solutions to unique issues within regions. Quebec has also provided funding to support community or region-led initiatives, a key to the success of small communities (a theme we heard from presenter after presenter).

While much was learned in the dozens of presentations and interactions, it was a presenter from the tiny island of Bornholm, Denmark, population 43,000, who was most compelling. Sitting far from home in the heavily polluted Baltic Sea (it’s far closer to Sweden than to Denmark), Bornholm’s fortunes have historically risen and fallen with its fishery. With high unemployment rates and low education levels, Bornholm is betting its future on the only long-term strategy that seems to be working in the small towns and remote villages of the world. They’re investing in education, innovation (in people and governance structures), new technologies and in creating an entrepreneurial culture. “What’s a small island to do?” asks Peter Billing, the architect of Bornholm’s Bright Green Island regional development strategy. “It has to co-operate with its neighbours and it has to build a spirit of co-operation within it.”

While local response and capacity is essential, the role of central governments (federal and provincial) in moving this forward through policy, technical expertise, facilitation and money is also critical, concluded Chuck Fluharty, Director of the highly respected U.S.-based Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI). Fortunately in the US, the Obama administration has committed to making this happen. Sadly however, here in BC and the rest of Canada (with the exception of Quebec), we are still stuck in a rural wilderness.

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

Aart de Geus – Deputy Secretary of the OECD

Mike Stolte is the Past President the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) and the Executive Director of the Nelson-based Centre for Innovative & Entrepreneurial Leadership (CIEL).