Government of Canada highlights key themes from Rural Development Action Plan consultation

Results to inform future action plan

OTTAWA, ON, July 27, 2026 /CNW/ -- 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.

Quote

"Canada's rural communities do so much for this country--it's time that federal policies and programs reflect and respond to their unique realities. That's why we launched a consultation and held roundtables across the country to hear directly from voices on the ground in rural, remote, northern and Indigenous communities about the challenges they face and the opportunities ahead. I want to thank everyone who took the time to share their perspectives and to assure them that the government is listening closely. We are committed to crafting a new Rural Development Action Plan that truly delivers on our government's plan for rural Canada."
– The Honourable Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State for Rural Development

Quick facts

• The online consultation, titled Help shape the future of rural Canada – Moving from strategy to action, ran from December 15, 2025, to February 20, 2026.
• A total of 2,841 participants took part in the online consultation, and 14 roundtables have been conducted to date in rural communities from coast to coast to coast.
• The Rural Development Action Plan (RDAP) will be launched in 2026 and will be informed by input gathered through the online consultation and the cross-Canada roundtables with rural stakeholders and partners.
• In June 2019, the Government of Canada published its first-ever Rural Economic Development Strategy and a progress report was released in August 2021. The RDAP will build on the strategy to reflect current realities.
• Canada has over 4,000 diverse rural communities. Non-metropolitan areas account for more than a quarter of the population and contribute over 25% of our country's gross domestic product.

Related product

• Backgrounder: Government of Canada rural consultation

Associated links

• Rural economic development
• Canada's Rural Economic Development Strategy: Progress Report
• Canada launches public consultation to develop action plan for rural communities

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Contacts: Connor Burton, Senior Communications and Issues Advisor and Press Secretary, Office of the Secretary of State for Rural Development, [email protected], 343-549-8093; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, [email protected]