Dear Mr MacNeill:
I would like to respond to your recent editorials in which you raised questions about the provincial government’s commitment to the formulation of a rural development strategy. I wish that you had stuck to the facts, rather than engage in speculation and innuendo.
The fact is that the provincial government is strongly committed to rural development. In April of 2008, it established a department that was given responsibility for rural Prince Edward Island. This is the first government in the province’s history that has designated a department with that responsibility. One of the first initiatives of the new department was the establishment of a rural jobs initiative to strengthen employment and economic development in rural communities. The second major initiative was an agreement to extend broadband services to rural residents and businesses across the province. At the same time, the government announced its intention to proceed with the formulation of a rural development strategy.
As you know, rural areas in all of North America are facing significant pressures. These pressures, which have been building for decades, cannot be reversed easily.  To reverse this decline, government, rural residents and other interested citizens must work together in a spirit of cooperation, and with a clear focus on the underlying causes, with a resolve to find solutions.
A wide-ranging discussion paper was prepared and presented at a major conference in April of this year which brought together representatives of the primary industries and rural businesses to discuss their perspectives. Out of that conference came a number of very positive ideas on how to build on the potential of rural communities. That conference was followed up with further consultations in rural communities, and will continue with a series of focus groups sessions until the fall. In addition, all Islanders are being invited to participate in a survey to seek their views on the direction of the strategy.
In order to help guide this process, the department established a new Rural Economic Development Advisory Council. The members of the council have a long-standing interest in rural development, and will help bring a grassroots perspective to the process. Far from hiding behind the council, as you have suggested, I have actively sought out their advice and have been meeting with them and with many others over the past number of months.
Following this process, government intends to table a rural development strategy during the fall session of the Legislative Assembly.
In your editorials, you suggest that Islanders should not expect much beyond superficial rhetoric and you raised a number of issues important in your view that presenters failed to raise during the Montague consultation.  The process that we are following will ensure that the strategy is well-considered, will focus on the underlying issues and will present practical and effective solutions to begin to reverse the decline in rural communities across this province.    
Rather than minimizing and disparaging these efforts, I encourage you, as a rural resident and rural business person, to provide concrete ideas and suggestions as part of this process. I have been meeting with many other Islanders since becoming minister responsible for rural development six months ago.  I was quite pleased with the quality of the presentations in Mill River, Montague, Crapaud and Wellington.   I invite your participation, and welcome you to join with other Islanders as we address this major public policy challenge.
Yours sincerely,
Neil LeClair
Minister of Fisheries,
Aquaculture and
Rural Development