The push is on to get rural Canadians the internet they need.
Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison is urging residents to take part in the Conservative Caucus’ consultation process to connect rural Canadians by 2021.
Despite the CRTC designating broadband an essential service over five years ago, he says many still don’t have consistent access.
“Today’s digital economy means that affordable, reliable access to consistent highspeed internet is critical for families & businesses,” he adds.
Aitchison says things have been made worse by Covid-19 and that because of the high cost of internet access, he’s had constituents tell him they’re having to choose between educating and feeding their families.
“The rural/urban divide will only grow larger with the installation of even faster 5G networks in urban Canada, while many rural Canadians do not meet the CRTC speed benchmark of a 50 megabytes per second (MBPS) download speed and a 10 MBPS
upload speed,” he says. “Canada’s telecommunications industry needs more competition. This is evidenced by the fact investments in rural broadband by successive governments and incumbent
providers over nearly two decades have not solved the problem. Investment is needed, but first the system and the regulatory environment need to change.”
The MP says this is why Conservatives are calling on the Federal government to outline a concrete action plan to address the issue.
He says this plan needs to connect all Canadians by 2021, at
the speed benchmark that has been set by CRTC.
The consultation document can be viewed by clicking here.
