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The purpose of this paper is to examine the efforts of a seven-year partnership project, the Rural Policy Learning Commons (RPLC), to raise the profile of rural development policy in Canada. Substantive and effective rural policy has long been a challenging prospect. Issues of distance and density, which define the rural condition, present barriers to galvanizing policy attention, understanding rural issues, and designing appropriate interventions. The RPLC project experienced several policy impact successes related to specific policy windows. The project also experienced capacity challenges--at all levels of the rural policy process--and offers insights related to complex systems and the challenges associated with seeking to elevate the role of evidence within policy processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural resource-based regions are increasingly accommodating large mobile workforces to support renewed industrial investments. As large-scale resource development projects are mobilized, however, industries' use of mobile work camps and outsourcing with established global supply chain networks may exclude rural businesses and communities from associated economic benefits, particularly in the absence of local content policies. To date, however, research has largely focused on supply chain opportunities pertaining to the construction or operations of resource development assets, with limited consideration of the issues that must be considered in order for local businesses to capture benefits from mobile workforces. Drawing upon interviews with businesses in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, we use issues unfolding in the new institutionalism discourse to explore the roles of senior governments in strengthening local benefits related to mobile workforces, as well as some of the challenges that existing policy roles and debates present to better position rural businesses in these resource-based regions. Our findings suggest that underdeveloped and under-resourced senior government policies, regulations, and processes are entrenching the role of rural regions as resource banks instead of creating a competitive playing field for rural businesses to capture, and locally anchor, economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasingly political environment developing in western, industrialized resource sectors, the purpose of this paper is to explore Indigenous governments' ability to assert sovereignty over their territory as it pertains to resource development. Utilizing a relational self-determination framework, we present a case study of the Stk'emlupsemc te Secwépemc Nation and their role in governance over mineral development in their unceded traditional territory located in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. This article adds to the growing case examples that suggest that First Nations governments in Canada are exerting their selfdetermination strategically, transitioning the role of negotiated agreements from an Impact-Benefit transaction to gain greater participation in resource extraction decision-making. Utilizing tools such as cultural heritage studies, legal action, and developing community-based processes of consent, First Nations governments are gaining more negotiating leverage and influence over decision-making processes for resource development projects. These insights are particularly relevant for Indigenous communities that are considering their options regarding resource development as a path to autonomy and self-governance over their territory, resources, and economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a new approach to managing drinking water at a regional scale, incorporating best practices related to regional development, new regionalism, regional resilience, water management, and sustainable infrastructure. The feasibility of the proposed approach was explored in two rural case study regions in Canada, where key informant interviews and focus groups were conducted with municipal, regional, and provincial officials. From a theoretical perspective, the proposed approach to managing drinking water has the potential to leverage the benefits of regionalism to address many existing challenges in rural drinking water systems by improving efficiencies, fostering collaboration, and helping to build regional resilience through an enhanced infrastructure foundation. We outline a variety of potential strategies to enhance rural drinking water systems using the proposed regional water management model. However, the appropriateness and feasibility of the approach in rural settings remains to be seen. The research reveals gaps among stakeholders in their understanding of drinking water systems generally, and further knowledge gaps associated with the potentials for the application of a regionalist approach more specifically, which hindered a more robust assessment of the approach in the case regions. The research adds to the discourse on rural regional development and provides in-depth case study findings on the potential application of regional development approaches in addressing infrastructure challenges in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In resource-dependent boom and bust economies, accelerating change has been one of the defining attributes of rural community and economic development research. These patterns of change become more complex as rural stakeholders pursue new development pathways in efforts to diversify and strengthen the resiliency of their communities and economies. But what happens when nascent economic development initiatives are interceded by a renewed resource development? Using the concepts of regional waves and institutionalism, this research examines how civil, civic, and economic sector actors intersect to chart new development pathways in the remote mining town of Tumbler Ridge, BC Canada. We start with a review of Staples theory and the challenges for local and regional economies associated with dependency and truncated development. This is followed by the introduction of regional economic waves that are set against a context where communities, as a result of the neoliberal policy transition, are increasingly on their own to react to the pressures of change. With successive fluctuations in the coal mining sector, stakeholders in Tumbler Ridge have pursued new opportunities in a variety of sectors. We examine how these new economic development initiatives were either abandoned or strengthened by civil, civic, and economic stakeholders in the context of renewed mining activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural drinking water systems face a number of challenges, not the least of which is a growing infrastructure deficit. While age and investment are typically highlighted as key factors influencing the infrastructure deficit, other pervasive challenges remain for rural drinking water systems in British Columbia, Canada. This raises the question of whether factors influencing the infrastructure deficit extend beyond those typically captured in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between rural regional development and drinking water systems in order to provide a historically and theoretically informed lens on the relationships between the two and how these links influence present day challenges. The authors aim to temper the presentism that often characterizes current debates surrounding the infrastructure deficit and to frame current drinking water system challenges within a more contextually-informed and regionally integrated framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dynamics of a (new) regionalist development process that sought to enable communities, within a rural region of British Columbia, Canada, to chart a new strategic direction for their future development. We highlight the case of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Beetle Action Coalition (C-CBAC), which formed in response to the mountain pine beetle infestation that has destroyed much of the province's pine forests. Spurred by this crisis, the C-CBAC formed to create community and economic transition strategies to cope with long-term economic restructuring and environmental change. While the coalition has achieved many admirable successes, internal governance struggles and the reliance of senior governments on traditional vehicles to distribute supports have severely hindered any regionalist potential for implementation. Ultimately, government trumped governance in this attempt to construct a new regional ideal. The paper highlights the need for 'co-constructing' new regional governance, which entails both bottom-up and top-down responsibility and coordination in the implementation of new regional development processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]