Niagara logs on to high-speed Internet funding
Spotty or slow Internet service for some parts of Niagara could soon be a thing of the past.
Federal and provincial governments are each kicking in $90 million to bring ultra-high speed Internet to Niagara and southwestern Ontario.
“For some local residents, this might simply be a speedier log-in to Facebook to check in on what their grandchildren are up to, or it could be the key to helping a small home-run business find new markets overseas,” Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey said Tuesday at Brock University, site of the $180-million announcement.
Badawey said all of southwestern Ontario will be able to better connect, to compete and keep pace in a digital world once the project is completed.
“Eventually, virtually every family, every farm, every senior and every student will be able to connect to the new fibre optic network here and in southwestern Ontario.”
Badawey and St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle made the announcement jointly with St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley at Brock’s Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex.
Bradley said the project will close the broadband gap in Ontario.
Smaller municipalities told the provincial and federal governments that they need broadband services and don’t have the access that larger municipalities have, he said.
Bradley said the rollout, which will begin this year, will help Niagara’s economy by improving new and existing workplaces, enhancing education and attracting highly skilled workers to the area.
“We want companies in Niagara to succeed on both the local and global scale,” Bradley said.
Niagara Region Chair Alan Caslin said connecting the region is a priority that needs to happen if Niagara wants to be prosperous, develop its economy and keep its under-35 demographic.
“Times are changing and we need to keep up. It’s important we stay competitive because we’re competing against the Torontos, the Hamiltons and the other regions in Ontario,” Caslin said.
He said connecting communities across Niagara, including the south end, is going to be critical for jobs.
“In the south we hear often times that I can’t get Internet service, I don’t want to locate here.”
The announcement, Caslin said, means the Internet will be that much better for those communities in attracting business and people who want to live there.
Steven Renzetti, Brock’s interim vice-president of research, said the new network is a critical development that will drive economic and cultural development and put the Niagara in a good place for its future.
The Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) project will expand access to broadband by delivering fibre optic coverage to more than 300 Ontario communities, affecting 3.5 million people.
The SWIFT project is part of the New Building Canada Fund’s Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component Small Communities Fund, which supports infrastructure projects in municipalities with less than 100,000 residents.
The total project cost is $281 million. The remaining amount will be paid by the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus, a not-for-profit organization representing 15 upper and single tier southwestern Ontario municipalities.
Bittle said announcements by the federal government over the past several months have been made to bolster innovation and encourage economic activity to contribute to a growing middle class.
“These announcements continue to make us more competitive and heighten the argument that a Niagara resurgence has already begun.”