After attending the federal Industry Committee’s two meetings during the past week, MP Jeremy Patzer remained concerned about the current state of broadband access in rural areas.
“Problems existed long before the pandemic,” said Patzer. “Now that more of us have to maintain our social and professional contact online, it really widens the gap faced by rural or remote Canadians. We’re now dealing with the risk of greater disadvantages for education, work and local business.”
The committee heard from Rural Economic Development Minister Maryam Monsef and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault on Monday, May 11. On the following Thursday, there were also representatives of four telecommunications companies: Rogers Communications Inc., TELUS Communications Inc., Xplornet Communications Inc. and Cogeco Inc. The ministers outlined the government’s further plans during or after COVID-19, while each company expressed their commitment to the needs of customers. Many questions remained for all the witnesses.
Minister Monsef’s opening remarks reaffirmed the government’s promise to connect all Canadians to broadband by 2030. She added, “In fact, COVID-19 has added greater urgency to this important work.”
Patzer focused on the finer details of the government’s plan as outlined by her presentation. “The news actually keeps getting worse,” he noted. “As I’m looking at the connectivity strategy for Canada document put out by the Liberal government for budget 2019, the $1.7 billion is actually for 13 years, which is going to take us to 2032. Why do we have to wait until 2032 to connect rural communities to broadband?”
In her answer, Monsef said rural areas do not have to wait for over 10 years, but she didn’t specify any targets beyond 2022.
Patzer also looked for confirmation on whether the government’s new mapping for national coverage reflected high quality signal strength. He explained this is important, because there is potential for companies to use low-signal mapping in claiming a given area is covered. Yet, low signal coverage doesn’t provide a reliable means of basic communication needs.
On Thursday, Patzer’s round of questions included addressing the public commitment of Canada’s three largest providers to smaller populations, who often claim to be underserved. “Do you think it’s worth providing high-quality reliable connections to rural Canadians in this current environment?” asked Patzer. “There has been a lot of threats from the big three about cutting spending to rural Canadians due to some of the regulation changes the CRTC is making.”
Representatives from Rogers and TELUS both replied that they are still looking for ways to expand services. There were no witnesses present for Bell Canada on Thursday night.
“Neither of these meetings have reassured me that we are prioritizing this issue effectively,” said Patzer. “It’s not acceptable for us to leave rural Canadians further behind. I’m glad to be part of a team that gets there is a dire need, especially as we look at our country’s future recovery after COVID.”
During the previous week, the federal Conservative caucus announced recommendations and a consultation process on improving internet access for rural Canadians. Among the recommendations contained in their document Connecting Canadians, there’s a call for independently verifying the service promised to consumers. This includes a required standard of using high-quality signal strength for mapping coverage.
Patzer says he will be surveying the residents of Cypress Hills – Grasslands about their experiences with cell and internet service in the near future.
