| Last updated at 1:29 AM on 13/11/09 |
Province previews rural strategy 
TERESA WRIGHT
The Guardian
The province’s rural development strategy has yet to be made public, but elements of it were announced in Thursday’s throne speech.
Several new initiatives were detailed in a “renewing rural P.E.I.” section. In it, the province lays out plans to establish regional business centres in rural areas. These will house business and labour market development programs and resources in central locations across rural P.E.I. for easier access by business owners and residents.
The idea for these centres came from input received during public consultations held over the past year on what Islanders would like to see in the province’s upcoming rural development strategy.
Rural Development Minister Neil LeClair said the full strategy will be released later this fall, but said government is already starting to put elements of it into place with the announcements like the business centres detailed Thursday.
“The business community in the rural community said they often have to go to different areas and that this was frustrating — no one really knew where to go so they ended up going to four or five different places before they got the information they needed, so we’re looking at putting all these information services under one roof,” LeClair said.
Premier Robert Ghiz called these regional business centres “one-stop shopping” for rural business owners and entrepreneurs to get the information and resources they need to better develop their local businesses.
“One of the problems we heard was that it was haphazard, so to speak — where do you go to deal with the provincial government whether or not its looking for a loan or where do you go with help looking for skilled labour,” Ghiz said. “They were looking for one-stop shopping and that’s what we’re going to be offering through three rural development regions here in the province.”
Another gap identified by rural Islanders through consultation was a lack of access to education in certain parts of the province. That’s why government also announced plans to establish a regional training centre in western P.E.I. that will offer Holland College courses to western Islanders.
Holland College president Brian McMillan said he has long been hearing calls from people in West Prince to establish skilled training courses.
“I think there’s a strong interest and desire by the community and we’re pleased that we’re going to have chance to respond to that demand,” he said.
The location has yet to be determined but programs will include trades programs, adult education and post-secondary preparation courses. It will provide rotating post-secondary programs at sites throughout West Prince in areas of health care, business management and information technology.
McMillan said he hopes to see at least some of those programs begin in September 2011, but details are still being ironed out.
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