Ottawa, Ontario
Rural, remote, northern and Indigenous communities across Canada play a leading role in shaping a stronger, more resilient future for all Canadians. From December 15, 2025, until February 20, 2026, the Government of Canada invited individuals, businesses, organizations and local governments to share input through an online consultation to help inform the development of a new Rural Development Action Plan (RDAP).
This engagement was supported by a series of cross-country roundtables that brought together rural stakeholders and partners from coast to coast to coast. The online consultation and roundtables provided multiple ways for people and organizations to share their perspectives on federal initiatives and policies and help shape the development of the RDAP.
Today, the Honourable Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State for Rural Development, shared key themes that emerged from the consultation and roundtables. As the following key themes show, participants across regions and sectors emphasized the importance of solutions that reflect local realities and are rooted in community priorities:
- Design programs for rural realities: Participants called for more place-based approaches-programs designed, delivered and measured in ways that reflect rural contexts and challenges-and for meaningful, ongoing engagement with rural and Indigenous communities.
- Keep benefits rooted locally: Many emphasized that economic wealth, capacity, infrastructure, decision making and the local workforce need to remain in communities rather than flowing outward through centralized systems or models that do not fit rural needs.
- Recognize rural Canada's role in national prosperity: Responses underscored that rural Canada contributes significantly to the country's prosperity and resilience, including through food, energy, labour, culture, resource development and national security.
- Facilitate access to federal support: Participants pointed out opportunities to better align federal tools and simplify delivery so rural people and organizations can navigate supports more easily.
- Invest in local capacity and measure long-term outcomes: Respondents highlighted the need to build community capacity and measure success by what communities can retain and sustain over time, not only short-term outputs.
The next step involves using the feedback received to inform the ongoing development of a new RDAP that reflects the opportunities, needs and lived realities of rural communities. The Government of Canada is grateful to everyone who provided input on this important consultation and looks forward to sharing the Rural Development Action Plan later in 2026.
