Rural Dialogue
Steinbach, Manitoba

Meeting Particulars

Steinbach, Manitoba - ENGLISH
June 8, 1998
5:30 - 8:30 pm

Questions

1. A) Rural residents are concerned about the future of their communities.
What are the key strengths of your community as you look to the future?

1. B) What are the biggest challenges that you, your family and your community face as you look to the future?

2. A) What is preventing you and your community from overcoming these challenges? What is holding you back?

2. B) What needs to be done?

3. A) What organizations, levels of government or others should be involved in working to overcoming these challenges?

3. B)How should they be involved?

4. What role do you see specifically for the federal government in working with you to overcome these challenges?

5. How can federal programs and services better support your community's needs (e.g., are there changes needed in the design, delivery, awareness or accessibility)?

6. What is the best way for the Federal Government to continue to hear the views of rural people on an ongoing basis (e.g., meetings, surveys, polls, newsletters, advisory groups, the Internet, etc.)?

Findings

1. Rural residents are concerned about the future of their communities.
1. a)What are the key strengths of your community as you look to the future?

• Location advantages—highway access, border crossing in close proximity, Winnipeg in close proximity, other infrastructure advantages.
• Human resources—skilled and flexible people.
• Youth.
• Seniors and elders.
• Educational system.
• Volunteer spirit—people are willing to help.
• Organizations and institutions in the community—e.g., churches, chamber of commerce, service clubs.
• A growing Metis workforce.

• Marketing skills.
• Maintaining or growing farm incomes—particularly in the context of declining prices for commodities like wheat.
• No inventory of community assets—i.e., what are the unique competitive advantages of each rural community.
• Economic stresses—maintaining what we already have (e.g., local post office, RCMP detachment, care facility for seniors), maintaining standard of living.
• Time management and priorities.
• Access to services—e.g., health care and higher education.
• Lack of jobs in rural communities.
• Downloading of responsibilities by various levels of government.
• Challenge of instilling pride in rural life.
• Linkages between communities—rivalry and competitiveness between communities decreases cooperation.
• Too many municipalities with boundaries.
• Access to risk capital
• Information overload.
• Eroding infrastructure.

• Government debt.
• Lack of leadership—resistance to change on the part of some of the older councilors.
• Outside forces are in control (e.g., health care reform, bank mergers, training programs).
• Lack of cohesion between people from different cultural backgrounds and communities.
• Lack of a spirit of self-sufficiency.
• Overlapping government programs.
• Knowledge of federal government programs.
• Poor prices for some farm commodities.

• Establish linkages between communities.
• Promote leadership competencies—innovation/inventiveness, rigor, creativity.
• Allocate resources.
• Create a risk capital program.
• Create federal government programs that are workable.
• Federal government should assist in increasing farm gate prices and help preserve agriculture.

• All levels of government.
• The federal government should be actively involved in subsidizing commodities or encouraging farmers to exit the business.
• More individual and community responsibility and accountability should be encouraged.
• Rural economic development councils.
• The education system
• The media—e.g., Town and Country section on rural life in the Winnipeg Free Press, CBC.
• The federal government should help promote wild fur sales in Europe and counteract the negative images.

• Government should be providing services and finances—e.g., "Heritage Minutes" is a valuable service
• The federal government should be more involved in the educational system—particularly in promoting technology and telecommunications.
• Government should work on correcting inequalities between urban versus rural communities with respect to health, education, housing, recreation and infrastructure such as water and sewer.

• Acting as facilitator, mentor and manager (there was not group consensus on this point).
• Provide more success stories and to help rural Canadians learn, talk about the failures as well.
• Provide a tax deduction for charitable donations.
• Support medical expenses for rural areas.
• Change the school tax base—there are too many school divisions—they should be funded out of general revenue.
• Decentralize services and dollars to local people and governments.
• The federal government should not be making economic decisions that affect local communities—these decisions should be made at the local level.
• Streamline services and provide savings back to rural communities (e.g., 2 cent gas tax).
• Approach seniors through town hall meetings.
• Federal government should invest in infrastructure.
• Provide a northern allowance and other tax breaks.
• The federal government should play the role of motivator and promotor of rural Canada.
• The federal government should have a physical presence in our communities.

• Less red tape.
• One stop shopping
• Keep supporting national programs—e.g., Heritage Canada.
• Change the employment insurance system so that seasonal workers are not penalized.
• Make service visible.
• Promote the idea that urban Canada needs rural Canada.
• Consider funding formulae that take into account the land base represented versus the population represented.
• Create a student loan program that provides for the unique needs of rural Canadians.
• Encourage student exchange programs.

• Town hall meetings.
• Chambers of commerce.
• Newspapers.
• Surveys.
• Small group meetings.
• Advisory groups.
• Creating a physical presence in the communities.
• Having Members of Parliament visit communities.
• Note that the Internet is not always a viable form of communication—it can be very restrictive.

All Rural Dialogue session reports on this Canadian Rural Partnership (CRP) web site are included for information purposes only. The views expressed in the Rural Dialogue session reports have not been edited and are those of one or many rural Canadians who attended the Rural Dialogue sessions.

The views expressed in the Rural Dialogue session reports do not necessarily represent the views of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada or any other department or agency of the Government of Canada. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada does not make any warranties, expressed or implied, as to the content and/or use of the Rural Dialogue session reports.