By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The federal government needs to declare universal broadband access across Canada as an essential service, according to John Nater, the Official Opposition shadow minister for rural economic development.
“Online learning, e-commerce, connecting communities and families during the pandemic is absolutely essential now,” the conservative MP for the Ontario riding of Perth-Wellington (pictured) said in an interview. “Upwards of 60% of rural communities across Canada don’t have access to broadband and are missing out on economic opportunities. You cannot operate in 2020 without access to high-speed internet. It’s a roadblock to small businesses, to families, to communities.”
Last year, the federal Liberals’ election campaign platform characterized high-speed internet as a “necessity, not a luxury.”
Nater welcomed the federal government’s stated commitment to “accelerate the connectivity timelines and ambitions” of the Universal Broadband Fund in Wednesday’s throne speech, but remains skeptical until it’s “actually implemented in some real and meaningful way.” The federal government said the fund is to be launched “soon” several months ago.
He believes the government’s choice of the word “accelerate” suggests that it’s lagging in meeting the objective of widespread high-speed internet access by 2030. “Existing programs they’ve had aren’t on track, such as the Connect to Innovate program, which has only connected 29 communities out of over 900 that they were hoping to connect,” said Nater. Cartt.ca reported on that here.
“The Conservative caucus is more rural-focused than the Liberals, so this is a huge issue for nearly all of our members.”
The Tories have said it won’t support the throne speech in a confidence vote, and while the New Democrats have yet to announce whether they will back the Liberal minority government and avoid a fall election, they are not particularly pleased with the government’s record on broadband delivery.
“It’s been there almost as long as childcare in terms of its promises,” said NDP telecommunications critic Brian Masse, who noted that nationwide high-speed Internet access has been on the Liberals’ agenda since Jean Chrétien’s government.
“They say they’re going to do more to connect Canadians, but at the same time, are backtracking from lowering prices, which they promised in the last election.”
The Liberals’ 2019 election platform included a promise to lower cell and wireless bills by 25% within two years. However, as Masse pointed out, Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains last month responded on behalf of the federal cabinet to last year’s CRTC ruling that reduced wholesale broadband rates and said the government was “concerned that these rates may undermine investment in high-quality networks, particularly in rural and remote areas.”
Earlier this month, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge by incumbent internet service providers against the CRTC’s wholesale rates, as Cartt.ca readers are aware.
“It’s a complete mess right now with regards to access to lines and the price-costing structure,’ said Masse, who also serves as the New Democratic critic for innovation, science and industry, and digital government. “A lot of people can’t afford the access being provided, not only in cities but in rural areas where it’s exponentially higher. So getting it there is one thing – making it affordable is another – and they should be equal.”
The accessibility-affordability issue comes right to the government’s door. In forming a cabinet last year in his second term as prime minister, Justin Trudeau created a new ministerial position with responsibility for digital government, held by Joyce Murray, who, during the COVID-19 pandemic, oversees public servants remotely providing government services online.
“We’re closing portals for Canadians to get government services in the real world and increasing them in the virtual world. But if you have to pay for that – almost like a tollway in the sky – you’re going to have winners and losers when it comes to those who can afford access and get better service from the government,” said Masse, the NDP’s seven-term MP for the Ontario riding of Windsor West.
Brian Masse
Masse views the throne-speech reference to accelerating the rollout of a national broadband strategy as “a full-out admission that their strategy is a complete and colossal failure,” since, as he said, Bains and Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef have reaffirmed the 2030 target since the 2019 election and the government has yet to officially launch the Universal Broadband Fund.
In an emailed statement to Cartt.ca, versions of which we’ve seen many times even before the pandemic, Monsef was quoted as saying “the economic recovery in Canada starts with connecting every household to high-speed internet. [Wednesday’s] throne speech announced our plan to accelerate timelines to connect more Canadian faster.”
“Since we formed government, more than $6 billion has been invested to better connect Canadians. Federally funded projects that will connect approximately one million households are already underway.”
Masse said the NDP has a plan to roll out national broadband within four years, “using the spectrum auction as a catalyst – and Bains has delayed the spectrum auction until next June.”
“All of the government’s policies and actions are very much going in the opposite direction of connecting Canadians,” Masse continued. “So it’s either a complete and bold lie that they’re presenting in the Speech from the Throne, or it’s a complete admission their entire broadband strategy is an utter failure.”
“And, I find it odd that they don’t include affordability for Canadians in this equation. If you don’t have that, it just creates more inequity in society as more services go online.”
