THE INDEPENDENTS: Westman places rural communities "on level footing" with urban centres

By Ruby Pratka

IT’S NO SECRET that the lack of readily available high-speed internet has long been a headache for people who live in rural Manitoba. “Lack of access to reliable high-speed internet is hurting economic growth in rural and remote areas,” the agricultural weekly The Western Producer reported in 2017 in an exposé called Out of Touch.“Frustrated farmers, rural businesses and homeowners have said they have inadequate and expensive internet service...and for some producers without reliable data, the age of autonomous machines is stalled.” A 2016 study by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority found average download speeds in rural Manitoba to be...