Carleton journalism professor Allan Thompson has been chosen by the federal Liberal party to establish and lead a task force on research and outreach on the issues and concerns of residents in rural ridings.
The task force, named “Project Rural,” will aim to create a program of outreach in federal ridings across Ontario that are significantly rural. Project Rural will operate under the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario).
Thompson was the Huron-Bruce federal Liberal candidate in the past election. He and his supporters finished in second place in the past federal election.
While the Liberals won a majority government across Canada, in Ontario they did not pick up about two dozen rural seats north and west of the GTA.
“As a candidate, I spoke a lot about making sure rural issues were heard and that there was a rural voice,” Thompson said.
He said he suggested the establishment of the task force as something the federal Liberal party should be doing, based on his own experience as a candidate in a rural riding.
Thompson said he was asked by Tyler Banham, president of the federal Liberal party’s Ontario wing, to head the establishment of Project Rural.
“I think when you look at the election results, the Liberal party was very successful in every part of the country,” Thompson said. “But if there was one pattern that emerged, particularly in Ontario, there were fewer ridings that were won in a rural setting.”
“I just think it’s very important to listen to what people who live in rural ridings have to say,” he said.
“There is a sense that decisions are made in the city and people who live in a rural environment just don’t have as much say in the decisions of government and truth be told, the great majority of Canadians nowadays do live in urban centres.”
Currently, Thompson said the full details of Project Rural’s structure and mandate are being finalized, but work for the establishment of the program will begin almost immediately.
To begin the research, Project Rural will consult with former Liberal candidates, their campaign teams, and electoral district associations of rural ridings in Ontario, according to an article in the Seaforth Huron Expositor.
Project Rural will conduct research into key issues specific to rural voters, aiming to develop a rural-specific campaign strategy and platform planks for 2019.
“Obviously people who live in rural communities share many concerns of anybody else across the country,” Thompson said. “But there are particular issues that relate to life in a rural setting and for almost every one of those major policy issues, you can sort of look at it from a rural point of view and find other aspects of it.”
“Even if they’re not the majority of voters, what they have to say and what matters to them is really important,” Thompson said. “I think it’s just a really good opportunity to devote more attention to the concerns of people who live in a rural setting.”
