Question: How can the federal government start policies in rural areas?
About the article "Canada", section "Provinces and territories".

Candidate passages:
The Rural Secretariat is a focal point for the Government of Canada to work in partnership with Canadians in rural and remote areas to build strong, dynamic communities.
Located in Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, it provides leadership and coordination for the Canadian Rural Partnership; facilitates liaison and creation of partnerships around rural issues and priorities; and promotes dialogue between rural stakeholders and the federal government.
Key activities of the Rural Secretariat include:  seeks input of rural Canadians through the Rural Dialogue so the federal government can better understand and respond to local and regional issues;  conducts an Information Outreach program to promote awareness of federal programs and services for rural Canadians;  promotes use of the "Rural Lens" to ensure that rural concerns are considered throughout the federal government;  conducts and supports research and analysis of economic and social issues affecting rural Canada;  coordinates a partnership approach on rural issues across the federal government, through the provincial and territorial Rural Teams;  provides one-stop access to information of particular interest to rural Canadians through the Canadian Rural Information Service.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is responsible for the Rural Secretariat. 
The National Rural Development Council (NRDC) is the federal component of the National Rural Development Partnership.
The NRDC comprises representatives from various federal departments and national organizations whose activities or policies may affect rural areas.
The NRDC provides guidance for the Partnership and works on behalf of State Rural Development Councils at the national level.
Its administrative office is housed in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 
Much of the increase in inequality in China can also be attributed by the widening rural-urban divide, particularly the differentials in rural-urban income.
A household survey conducted in 1995 showed that the rural-urban income gap accounted for 35% of the overall inequality in China.
In 2009, according to the China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the urban per capita annual income at US$2525 was approximately three times that of the rural per capita annual income.
This was the widest income gap recorded since 1978.
Urban-biased economic policies adopted by the government contribute to the income disparities.
This is also known as the ‘artificial’ result of the rural-urban divide.
In terms of the share of investments allotted by the state, urban areas had a larger proportion when compared with rural areas.
In the period 1986-1992, investments to urban state-owned enterprises (SOE) accounted for more than 25% of the total government budget.
On the other hand, less than 10% of the government budget was allocated to investments in the rural economy in the same period by the state despite the fact that about 73-76% of the total population lived in the rural areas.
However, the burden of the inflation caused by the fiscal expansion, which at that time was at a level of approximately 8.5%, was shared by all including the rural population.
Such biased allocation of government finances to the urban sector meant that the wages earned by urban workers also include these government fiscal transfers.
This is not forgetting the relatively higher proportions of credit loans the government also provided to the urban SOEs in the same period.
Meanwhile, the wages earned by the rural workers came mainly from growth in output only.
These urban-biased policies reflect the importance of the urban minority to the government relative to the rural majority.
In the period when reforms in urban areas were introduced, the real wages earned by urban workers rose inexorably.
Restrictions to rural-urban migration protected the urban workers from competition from the rural workers which therefore also contributed to rural-urban disparities.
According to a report by the World Bank published in 2009, 99% of the poor in China come from rural areas if migrant workers in cities are included in the rural population figures.
Excluding migrant workers from the rural population figures indicates that 90% of poverty in China is still rural.
Inequality in China does not however only occur between rural and urban areas.
There exist inequalities within rural areas, and within urban areas themselves.
In some rural areas, incomes are comparable to that of urban incomes while in others, income remains low as development is limited.
Rural-urban inequalities also do not only refer to income differentials but include inequalities in areas such as education and health care. 
Rural areas and the specific ethnic groups they compose suffer from disproportionately low resources in education and receive significantly less funds from the government.
More schools with more female teachers must be created in rural areas and policies must be enacted to stem the surge of government funds to solely urban areas. 
The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development is the Government of Ghana agency responsible for the promotion of government policies and projects in Ghana.
The ministry also promotes governance and balanced rural based development.