As we continue to deal with the global COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians have needed to rely on the Internet to help connect them to work, school, government resources, and loved ones. It’s how grandparents visit with their grandchildren, students communicate with their teachers and classmates, and businesses continue to sell their products. H
Many communities across Canada still don’t have the infrastructure needed to connect us to one another.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, yesterday announced an investment of $1.75 billion to help connect Canadians to high-speed Internet across the country, grow businesses, and create jobs. This investment will connect 98 per cent of Canadians across the country to high-speed Internet by 2026, with the goal of connecting all Canadians by 2030.
Announced originally in Budget 2019 as $1 billion, yesterday’s additional funding of $750 million for the Universal Broadband Fund will help advance projects with partners, like the Canada Infrastructure Bank, to connect Canadian households and businesses in underserved communities over the next six years. This includes a $150 million Rapid Response Stream with an accelerated application process to allow shovel-ready projects to get started right away. With today’s announcement, our government has made $6.2 billion available for universal broadband since 2015.
The Prime Minister also announced an agreement of $600 million with Canadian satellite company Telesat to improve connectivity and expand high-speed Internet coverage to the far north, rural, and remote regions across Canada, through low-earth-orbit satellite capacity.
The Government of Canada will work with partners to provide all Canadians with at least 50 megabits per second download speeds and 10 megabits per second upload speeds, no matter where they are in the country. These speeds will allow Canadians to telework, participate in e-learning, and access telehealth resources.