The Hill: Ottawa puts its money where its mouth is for rural broadband
Monday, October 5, 2009
Rural municipalities and farm leaders are welcoming the announcement of $225 million in federal funding to bring high-speed Internet to rural Canada
by BARRY WILSON
Governments, political parties and political leaders love to talk about their love for rural Canada.
The Chrétien-Martin Liberals had their "rural lens" that produced little concrete result.
Current Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has made the "rural-urban divide" one of his themes, insisting it is a national unity issue and one of the great cleavages in modern Canada. And he says he does not want to lead a party or a government that represents only urban Canada, as the Liberal Party has come to be seen.
In early September, Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined the parade while visiting Sault St. Marie. His Conservative government represents most rural Canadian seats. He said Canadian governments must have more than a cities' agenda. "We have put, as a government, a big emphasis on rural and regional development," Harper said. "We can't have a Canada in the future where everybody just lives in three or four or five cities in this country."
Rural Canadians have come to expect that kind of political talk while seeing little concrete action. But Sept. 1 was different.
Ottawa announced that, by Oct. 23, it wants proposals from private sector, provincial or municipal governments on how they will match federal money to create rural high-speed Internet systems across the country.
It is the implementation of a promise in the 2009 budget to make $225 million available through Industry Canada to develop rural broadband services. Successful applicants will be announced by early next year with the work to build infrastructure beginning in 2010.
"Applications will be evaluated against a series of criteria with emphasis on best value and most households served," said the government announcement. "Applications must also show capacity to deliver within the timeframe and demonstrate a viable business model."
For rural Canadian political leaders, it was a welcome delivery on a political promise.
"This is very positive," southern Alberta farmer Don Johnson, chair of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities rural caucus, said after the announcement. "We've been waiting for this for some time. It will be a real boost for rural Canada. There has been a period when we did not know how this would pan out and, without information, it was frustrating."
Johnson said he expects some rural municipalities to try to find matching funds to attract federal dollars.
"In rural Canada, the economics often aren't there because there aren't enough users," he said. "And in a lot of cases if the municipality doesn't do it, it won't happen. I really think there is an opportunity for any and all people to look at 50-cent dollars."
A lack of broadband service has been identified as a drawback to rural businesses and the attractiveness of rural destinations.
Last year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission reported that, while 94 per cent of Canadian households have access to broadband and high-speed Internet, the rural reality is just 78 per cent.
In Ontario, better rural Internet and cell phone service is an issue dear to the heart of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), president Bette Jean Crews said days before the federal announcement.
"The need for that infrastructure across Ontario is one of OFA's ongoing lobby issues," she said in late August. "Driving across the province, there are areas with little or no cell phone reception and the per-capita cost of installing that infrastructure is going to require government incentives."
This autumn, a federal government has put its money where its mouth is on helping close the rural-urban divide. BF
Barry Wilson is a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery specializing in agriculture.