Given the buzz over FedDev Ontario, I thought a little trip down ‘federal involvement in regional economic development’ memory lane would be appropriate.  What FedDev will mean for the future of economic development remains to be seen, although I do have a few speculations!  We do, however, know the path that federal involvement in regional economic development has traveled. 

In the 1940s and 1950s, various federal government commissions and reports stressed the highly uneven nature of the Canadian economy.  The challenge was to redistribute economic wealth across the country without seriously impacting the economic vitality of Ontario and Quebec. 

In the early 1960s, federal involvement in economic development was targeted at rural areas across the country and Atlantic Canada.  The first program was the Agriculture Rehabilitation and Development Act (ARDA) created in 1961 to assist agricultural development and rural areas.  In 1966, the Fund for Rural Economic Development (FRED) was initiated to assist areas with low incomes and difficult economic adjustments.  

By the late 1960s, under Trudeau’s banner of national unity, regional development was seen as a priority.  The emphasis shifted from rural areas to regional economic expansion and industrial growth.  In line with this thinking, the federal government created the Department of Regional Economic Expansion (DREE) in 1969 to coordinate regional development and policies.

In 1987, regional development in Canada became the responsibility of two regional development agencies: the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD).  A similar agency, the Federal Office of Regional Development-Quebec (FORD-Q), would follow in 1991.  In 1987 the only sub-provincial organization was created:   the Federal Economic Development Initiative of Northern Ontario (FedNor).  As an organization, FedNor has limited autonomy and capacity when compared to the other federal agencies. 

Recently, a federal Southern Ontario development agency, FedDev Ontario, was introduced.  Policy actors in Southern Ontario have put serious pressure on the federal government for years with little success.  Why now?  I believe that the recession, the crash of the auto sector, the prominence of RIM, and the overwhelming Conservative support in the 2008 election created the perfect storm for the creation of FedDev Ontario.

Check back over the next few weeks for my next blog which will be an opinion piece on what FedDev Ontario means for federal regional economic development in Canada.

For further information on federal regional economic development see:

• Brodie, J.  The Political Economy of Canadian Regionalism.  Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Canada, 1990.

• Savoie, D. J.  Regional Economic Development: Canada’s Search for Solutions (2nd Edition).  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.

• Savoie, D.J.  Regional Development Revisited.  Moncton: The Canadian Institute for Research on Regional Development, 1992.

• Savoie, D.J.  Visiting Grandchildren: Economic Development in the Maritimes.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

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