Better Farming - January 2017

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Better Farming January 2017 Dig Deeper: 17
work to class websites.
As education moves increasingly toward the use of
digital materials, rural kids feel the pinch.
Christina Crowley-Arklie, press secretary and senior
communications adviser to Ontario Minister of Agricul-
ture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal, notes that the
Ontario government recently held a summit in Stratford
to look at the issue of “attracting and retaining youth” in
rural Ontario.
“The importance of investing in broadband activity was
discussed by those in attendance,” she says, since they too
saw the benefits that come from limiting barriers to
education for rural youth.
For that reason, Crowley-Arklie states that “we will
continue to work to develop a framework that supports
growth of a digital economy and supports broadband
networks in rural and northern Ontario.”
Finally, better rural connectivity creates solutions to
overcome barriers to health care for rural Canadians.
In the Georgian Bay area, better Internet is opening up
home-care jobs to locals and providing residents with
better health care.
For this reason Clark Somerville says that improved
Internet access has the “power to transform rural commu-
nities.” Instead of having to drive to an urban centre to
receive medical care, a farmer may simply hop online and
Skype his or her doctor.
This opportunity saves time and money, and can
improve standards of living.
In terms of jobs, education, family life and medical
care, better Internet access can revitalize farm communi-
ties or ensure their continued success. And in southwest-
ern Ontario, a project unveiled this past summer may see
such progress realized.
The SWIFT story
SWIFT (SouthWestern Integrated Fibre Technology) is a
recently incorporated not-for-profit which “aims to build
an ultra-high-speed fibre optic regional broadband
network for everyone in Western Ontario,” according to its
website.
“The project was initiated by the Western Ontario
Wardens’ Caucus and its partners (City of Orillia, Town of
Caledon, the Region of Niagara, Grey Bruce Health
Services, and Georgian College), with support from the
federal and provincial governments.”
SWIFT was incorporated in November 2015 and has
since been awarded $180 million from the federal and
provincial governments.
According to Geoff Hogan, executive director of
SWIFT, the not-for-profit “is all about filling in the gaps.”
The company is going to “find out where the fibre is”
and “fill in fibre where there isn’t any.”
“We want to make sure that folks that are in low-
density areas have the same access to broadband that these
HIGH-SPEED INTERNET
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Many rural households are dependent on mobile
Internet provided by cell towers.
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