Decentralization and Rural Development. A case study in Quebec

The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the rural Quebec policy with an emphasis on the Rural pacts as implemented in twelve Regional county municipalities. We test to what extent local development principles are respected through this policy. In this research the participant is the key element of the approach involved. He is the one who provides his opinion and impressions in order to give to the observer the opportunity of evaluating his behavior and attitude in a given situation. These testimonies, in addition to the available official documents and the study of the projects adopted through this rural policy contributed to identify the local behavior of politicians and the limits as well as the possibilities of local development in rural Quebec.