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Senator Pierrette Ringuette Urges Government to Continue Efforts to Decentralize Federal Bureaucracy

Yesterday, Senator Pierrette Ringuette addressed the Senate, urging the government to continue its efforts to decentralize the federal bureaucracy. 

 

“Dear colleagues, I would like to give a few examples of the positive impact of relocating certain federal government operations to cities in my area, be it Grand Falls, Edmundston or Campbellton. All these cities can provide bilingual services without additional training costs,” said Senator Ringuette.

 

The Senator strongly believes that decentralizing federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations should be a government priority.

 

“With the communications opportunities available through high speed Internet, the argument that the bureaucracy should be close to the legislative and executive arms of government no longer holds.”

 

In her speech to the Senate, Senator Ringuette said that every 10 years since the 1970s, successive governments have tried to move certain departments outside of Ottawa. Despite the opposition faced, the displaced departments did manage to reduce their costs and have become engines of economic development for their new region. The Senator added:

 

“Millions of dollars can be spent on programs to stimulate economic development in and attract investors to a given region, but unless it is prepared to move its operations to that region, the federal government is only distorting the economic record of the region with nothing more than wishful thinking. The federal government knows that the regions need economic development tools; there is no question about it. That is why I call on our government to show the way to the private sector and move its operations to regions that need an economic boost.”