Ottawa-The Rural Prosperity Group (RPG) says the Carney government is overlooking a key part of Canada in its ambitious national economic plans.

Rural Canada was not mentioned in the Speech from the Throne nor in the mandate letters to the new federal cabinet, RPG said.

“This absence is troubling, not only because rural communities are essential to our national identity, but because they are central to solving precisely the challenges this government has set out to address.”

As the Coalition for a Better Future’s 2025 Scorecard Report makes clear, rural Canada is foundational to the country’s economic and social resilience.

It “provides vital food, energy and critical minerals needed here and around the world.” These concerns are at the heart of national security, climate policy and global competitiveness.

The Coalition, headed by former cabinet ministers Anne McLellan and Lisa Raitt, said Rural Canada is also where much of the infrastructure the government plans to build must happen - energy corridors, critical mineral supply chains and sustainable housing solutions.

It is where immigration strategies must land in real communities, not just urban centres. It is where skilled trades need to be nurtured and where AI-powered efficiencies could be deployed to enhance service delivery across vast geographies. “Whether you work on Bay Street or in broadband connectivity, you have a stake in rural success,” the Coalition said.

“The opportunity to connect rural priorities to national ones is not just good politics—it’s good policy. If Canada is to build a strong economy that works for everyone, it must start where that economy is rooted: in rural Canada.”

RPG said rural residents will adopt a very cautious wait and see attitude as Carney fleshes out his election promises to revitalize economic and social conditions in the country’s small communities and rural areas.

The end of the carbon tax will save farmers more than $100 million a year and Carney has expressed a willingness to listen more carefully to voices from outside the country’s large urban centres.

An early test for the new government will be its ability to achieve one of Carney’s highly-promoted promises–quickly reducing the interprovincial trade barriers that have historically distorted and weakened the national economy, the Coalition said.

With the cost of these impediments estimated to be as high as $1.7 billion annually for the agricultural sector, farmers are among those with the most to gain if this promised restructuring of interprovincial trade is successful.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s Policy Advisory Council has identified trucking and transport regulations, limitations on the sale of provincially inspected meat and the lack of cross-province mobility of skilled workers and licensed professionals as major challenges.

Beyond the high-priority issue of trying to create one Canadian economy, the Liberals’ election campaign also recognized rural Canada with detailed platform offerings on a wide range of initiatives and support programs. The pledges involve significant spending commitments and significant changes in the federal government’s approach.

RPG said Carney has also pledged to provide financial support for businesses damaged by President Trump’s tariffs while working out a new economic and security relationship with the U.S. At the same time, his government aims to bring about a major shift in Canadian exporters’ reliance on the American market by diversifying trade to Europe and the Pacific, which could also benefit rural businesses.

This news item prepared for National Newswatch