Rural MPS meet in Bromont
The rural caucus of the Federal Liberal Party is meeting in Bromont this week for its annual summer retreat, bringing Members of Parliament (MPS) from across the country to engage in conversation on the issues that matter most to the Canadians who live outside of cities.
“The issues we will be addressing today are crucial for Brome-missisquoi and for all rural ridings in Canada,” said Denis Paradis, the MP for Brome Missisquoi, “The resulting recommendations will benefit all Canadians.”
Paradis, who gave an address to open the gathering in his capacity as host MP, called the rural caucus one of the most important groups within the national Liberal caucus because of the way that it helps amplify the voices of a smaller,
more spread out section of the national population. Far from being an obscure or rarely gathered group, the MP said that when Parliament is in session, the Rural Caucus meets and makes a report directly to the Prime Minister every week.
“But we don’t meet during the summer,” he added, explaining that the annual two-day gathering allows the group to keep up with the work that is on the table over the extended pause.
According to the Brome-missisquoi MP, this year’s meeting began on Tuesday with a discussion on tourism, and over the two days as a whole the conversation will touch on topics ranging from agriculture and rail safety to rural journalism and high speed internet. The group will also be visited by cabinet ministers Lawrence Macauley (Agriculture and Agri Food), Marc Garneau (Transport), Navdeep Bains, (Innovation, Science and Economic Development), and Melanie Joly (Tourism).
“The ministers are here to listen,” Paradis said. “When we resume session on the 17th of September we will raise these issues.”
Although rural issues in different parts of the country certainty face different issues, Paradis said that it is not unusual to find many points of commonality. In the tourism profile, for example, the MP pointed out that there is a shortage of seasonal workers no matter where in Canada one looks.
“We have over 8,000 workers in the tourism field in Brome-missisquoi,” he said, underlining the importance of the industry to the local economy.
The priority, from Paradis’ perspective, is access to high speed internet in rural areas. Again, referring to experiences in his home riding, the MP compared high speed internet access in the modern day to electricity in the 1960s.
“It makes no sense to build a house without electricity; I don’t have high speed internet, and it makes no sense,” he said.
Paradis has put considerable energy into bringing high speed internet services to the Brome-missisquoi area, but he said that he feels the work has been too long getting done in an age where people rely on internet services for many aspects of their daily lives. Although he acknowledged that the issue is a complex one that calls for a great deal of funding, infrastructure, and regulation decisions, he nonetheless argued that access to high speed internet is an essential service.
“This is what the country is thinking,” the MP said.
The meeting of the National Liberal Rural Caucus will continue until the end of the day today. Later this afternoon, caucus members are set to meet with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ president, and mayor of Magog, Vicky-may Hamm.