Make internet an essential service, rural leader urges
Kilometres of buried fibre-optic cables ‘sitting dark,’ mayor says
High-speed internet should be declared an essential service to ensure all Ontarians can enjoy the benefits of the digital economy, says the head of a group representing rural communities.
Allan Thompson, the chair of the Rural Ontario Municipal Association, said broadband services should be treated the same as the provision of clean water, electricity, health care, education and postal services.
Making the service mandatory will bolster economic development and ensure kilometres of fibre-optic cables already buried across the province by telecommunications and other private companies could be accessed for public use, said Thompson, who also serves as the mayor of Caledon.
“There are owners of a lot of fibre that’s sitting dark,” he said.
“Until the province makes it an essential service, it’s going to be extremely difficult to have reliable and affordable internet connectivity.”
Municipalities across Ontario have been grappling with the challenge of providing access to high speed internet and cellular service for over a decade.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has said that by the end of 2021 it wants 90 per cent of Canadian homes and businesses to have access to broadband speeds of at least 50 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads.
In Ontario, an estimated12 per cent of residents cannot access those broadband service speeds.
Thompson said dial-up or slow internet speeds are stifling job creation and hurting the rural economy, which impacts the entire province. Talented workers and businesses are moving to larger urban centres.
Setting up the right conditions for workers and businesses to relocate to rural Ontario will help lessen the burden on the province’s cities, he said.
“If you want to reduce gridlock on roads, allow people to work from home,” he said.
“It’ll be far cheaper and far quicker to put fibre in the ground than to build rail service or highways.”
Both the federal government and province say they are committing millions of dollars to municipal-led efforts to expand broadband and cell connectivity.
A spokesperson for Infrastructure Canada said under a bilateral agreement with the province, Ontario will receive $250 million in funding for rural and northern community infrastructure projects including broadband infrastructure.
“The government of Canada is committed to working with our provincial and territorial partners to ensure that our infrastructure investments are benefiting communities across the country,” Lama Khodr said in a statement. Ontario has committed $315 million over the next five years for broadband and cellular expansion, said a spokesperson for Infrastructure Minister Laurie Scott. Owen Sound Chamber of Commerce CEO Peter Reesor said businesses in the community are struggling to compete and some have chosen to move closer to urban centres to access services.
“You can go five kilometres outside of Owen Sound and have no access to a cell signal,” he said.
“That’s a huge impact on business, particularly if you’re trying to work from home.”