SHERIDAN SCOTT KNOWS she’s going to have to improvise somewhat when she opens her panel session at the International Institute of Communications Canadian chapter conference on November 22.
Her panel is called “taking stock of national digital strategies” and is scheduled to happen about two hours after Industry Minister Tony Clement is scheduled to speak. He is expected to give a progress report on where he and his ministry are in crafting Canada’s national digital strategy – a process the minister kicked off in May (Some are also expecting an update on the federal governments thinking on foreign ownership restrictions and wireless spectrum auction plans).
“I don’t know if (Minister Clement) will be in a position to announce the outcome of their deliberations,” said Scott (pictured), “but as for what I would like to see in a digital strategy, there are a couple of things.
“There should be a separate focus on broadband – and we will see evidence of that from other countries. We see that in Australia, France and the U.S. as well. Second, I would be looking for (the minister’s) thinking on setting (broadband speed) targets, how measurable they would be and the time period for implementation,” she said.
The former Commission of Competition (2004-09) and Bell Canada executive (she also had stints at the CBC and CRTC and is currently a partner at law firm Bennett Jones) noted that other countries have set short, mid-term and long-term goals for getting broadband capacities to all of its citizens. Australia, whose High Commission first secretary Melissa Fransen will be on Scott’s panel has set a deadline of 2020 for bringing 100 Mbps to as close to its entire population as possible.
“And what about affordability?” she asked. Then on top of that, digital literacy – so that people can learn the tools with which to cope and comprehend all that broadband can deliver – must be another priority.
And digital literacy is more than just knowing what to avoid on the web. It’s also about filling the substantial gaps, teaching people who may think they can’t learn to use a computer or fear new technology will expose them to scams or criminal behaviour. “People are worried about those things,” she said.
Even though education in Canada is mainly a provincial responsibility, Scott said educating Canadians on what broadband and the growing digital world can deliver “should be national in scope.”
But, “it’s not in the digital (consultation paper),” she noted. “They don’t mention it. In fact, I did a word search in it of the word ‘school,’ the word ‘learn’ and the word ‘business.’ The results are interesting… and it wouldn’t give you a lot of hope that we would deal with issues around schools or learning in the digital plan.
“If you look at Australia where they also have split jurisdictions between the state and the Commonwealth, it’s interesting to see how they have managed to sign a fairly comprehensive agreement that’s going to deliver on the digital education revolution, and they have measurable targets and some timeframes aimed at infrastructure, getting a one-to-one ratio of computer to kid, broadband in schools, training the teachers and looking at learning in children… there’s quite a comprehensive plan,” she explained.
“There are agreements among the various governments, agreements that relate particularly to digital education revolution specifically, and then it relates to a policy that they’ve also elaborated to decide what it is they believe Australian children need in order to function in a digital economy.
“I found it interesting to look at Australia because they’re the same size economy as us, they tend to believe in government more like we do compared to the U.S. and they have these challenges in geography (like Canada). They just share a lot of features, and when people talk about broadband and aggressive strategies and say, ‘Canada’s a vast country,’ well, so is Australia, you know. They have huge challenges in getting broadband out,” added Scott.
One of Minister Clement’s other rumoured topics at the IIC might be foreign investment levels in telecom and broadcasting and whether or not the current limits will be raised.
“That’s speculation I hear as well… and quite frankly I think that that issue is related to broadband, because if we contemplate investment in broadband, it’s limited by where you get your capital. Our telecommunications companies are limited in where they can seek capital,” she said.
Will all of that be part of Canada’s plan? We’ll find out just prior to Scott’s panel when the minister speaks. However, she speaks for many when she adds that Canada is quite behind when compared to other countries in setting our a digital economy strategy.
“We’re quite far behind at this stage,” she said. “If you look at these other countries that we’ll be hearing from on the panel, France, I think was out with their strategy in 2008. Australia was 2009. The U.S. was at the beginning of this year. They’re now at the implementation stage and we’re asking: Should we have targets? I mean, that’s a pretty basic question.”
The IIC Canadian chapter conference (Cartt.ca is the official media sponsor) runs November 22 and 23 in Ottawa at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Click here for more.
