Québec's Approach to Regional Development: An Historical Perspective

Date:

23 February, 2015

Free Webinar
12pm-1:30pm ET

This webinar provides an overview of Québec’s approach to regional development from before confederation to the current period. We will focus on the establishment of the National Rural Policy in 2001 and its evolution since that period of time. Topics covered will include the institutional and cultural roots of the Rural Policy, its key features, its impacts and legacy, its transitions to current conditions, and its prospects for the future. The discussion will consider various explanations for the success of the policy and the implications it has for regional policy, development, and programs in general.

On February 23rd, 2015, the RPLC will present:

Bruno Jean, a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Rural Development at L'Université du Québec à Rimouski. He was the first Scientific Director of the inter-university research group at the Centre de Recherche sur le Développement Territorial. His areas of specialization and research include the New Rural Economy, rurality, rural development of marginalized regions, family farming, rural policy, and rural governance. He contributed to the OECD Quebec rural policy review and published a paper in a recent OECD book on rural innovation. See: OECD, Innovation and Modernising the Rural Economy, 2014: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264205390-en

Bill Reimer is a Professor Emeritus at Concordia University in Montréal and Adjunct Professor at Brandon University. He is the Director of the Rural Policy Learning Commons (http://rplc-capr.ca), a 7-year international partnership of more than 90 researchers, policy-makers, practitioners, and organizations interested in rural and northern issues. From 1997 to 2008 he directed a Canadian national research project on the New Rural Economy which included 13 universities, 35 partners, and 32 rural communities from all parts of Canada (http://nre.concordia.ca). For details of his work go to: http://www.billreimer.net/workshop/

Audience: Provincial and Municipal Staff & Elected Officials, Academic Community, Economic Development Practitioners, Community Organizations, and Non-Profit Organisations.