Provincial and territorial committees reviewed hundreds of applications and ranked the proposals that met the mandatory criteria in order of merit. The report of the National Advisory Committee will be made public at the time of the announcement of funded sites, as was done in 1995 and 1996. Such formal arrangements are in place with the governments of Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, in accordance with Frameworks for Co-operation that have been negotiated. Members of the provincial and territorial committees are recruited by Industry Canada in consultation with federal agencies, provincial and territorial governments and national community service groups. Members of all committees are volunteers and include local and regional experts on rural economics, education, networking technologies, operations and training.
All members sign undertakings to avoid conflict of interest.
The role of the provincial and territorial committees is to review all proposals against the program criteria and to rank those recommended for funding in order of merit. The committees also provide a full report of their deliberations and their process to the National Committee. An important role of the provincial and territorial committees is to provide advice, guidance and feedback to Industry Canada on local issues of importance to the future effectiveness of the Program. The Committee reviewed and attested to the integrity of the selection process implemented by the provincial and territorial committees. The Committee confirmed that the selection process was equitable across all provinces and territories, and that only the best proposals had been recommended for funding by the provincial and territorial committees.