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Opposition critic for Innovation, Trade and Rural Development
and MHA for the District of Grand Bank, Judy Foote, is urging
the Minister of Business Kevin O’Brien to further explain the
designation of six communities in the province as "hubs" or
"growth centers". In a recent newspaper article (Independent
July 23_29, 2006),the minister revealed that Gander, Grand
Falls_Windsor, Corner Brook, Clarenville, Stephenville and St.
Anthony are targeted as urban development centres in the
province.
"I am concerned since the whole concept of "hub" cities, as
typically presented in economics, involves governments
concentrating additional resources in these "hubs". A similar
concept was recently advanced by the Conference Board of Canada
as an option for the federal government to consider. In that
report, Halifax was proposed to be the "hub" city for Atlantic
Canada.
"I am very weary of these economic models being applied to
drive development in this province. Our economy is very
different in structure from many other areas of Canada and of
North America where these models are being developed. It is not
prudent to quickly apply these outside models before we examine
our own circumstances and come forward with a
made_in_Newfoundland and Labrador solution, which takes into
account our unique circumstances.
"It is important that the minister expound on what this
strategy entails and disclose what it means in real terms and
what criterion were used to designate communities as hubs. Does
it also mean a further concentration of government services in
these centers? Will additional funds be spent in these
communities? More importantly, why have the Burin, Bonavista and
Connaigre Peninsulas, as well as Labrador, not been included in
this strategy? "
Foote points out that the Williams government has already
reduced services and limited new investments in rural areas of
the province. "If you look at the closure of HRLE offices and
schools around the province, as well as school board
consolidations and the deterioration of health care services in
many rural areas, there is a clear record of deliberate cuts to
rural areas. This active downsizing, together with the willful
neglect of serious issues facing rural areas in the fishery and
in municipal funding, reveals a government that has given up on
many rural areas. I truly fear that what the minister has
blurted out is a confirmation of the hidden agenda of
government. Now that the minister has thrown this out there, it
is important that he and the premier fully and properly explain
it and come clean on what it means for rural Newfoundland and
Labrador. "
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