Industry Committee on May 16th, 2019

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

On the program itself, once the approval process is completed, there is a lot of engineering work and planning that needs to be done. You don't build infrastructure quickly, as I'm sure you're aware. We know that 85% of the projects will have shovels in the ground this summer. We know that it has sometimes been a little bit longer than people would like to see, but it also takes time to make the designs for these communities.

We're making sure that we're not just building band-aid solutions. We're building this for the future. We want to make sure that the programs and the infrastructure that we build are scalable and able to meet the needs as we go forward.

Quite frankly, far too often, there have been band-aid solutions to things, and we don't want to see that anymore. We want to make sure when we're building this infrastructure that it's something we can use well into the future and meets the target of 50/10.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Minister, people see that there's $17.7 million for projects in the County of Kings in Nova Scotia, and the project start date was supposed to be May 1, 2017, but the actual amount of funding provided to date is zero. I can refer to a whole host of different projects in Newfoundland, in Inuvik, and elsewhere.

I think it's very clear. You said earlier that you plan to have more of these things done in the summer. Your government wanted to announce these projects initially, and then you waited to spend the money so that you could reannounce them before the upcoming election. I think, Minister, that the Canadian public will see through that ruse.

Will the Liberals be making any announcements in the media around already announced projects?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

The contribution agreements that have been signed with these companies are when the programs start. They have to build the plans for this. They have to hire the people. They have to make sure that they have the plan in place. They have contribution agreements that they have to meet milestones with.

The agreements that have been signed are rolling out. When you look at every application, they are different, and they do have to meet milestones along the way in order to do that.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

And after announcements, Minister, that's very politically convenient.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Thank you very much.

We're going to move to Mr. Sheehan.

You have five minutes.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you very much, Minister, and congratulations on your appointment as the first Minister of Rural Economic Development for Canada. I think that underlines and highlights the commitment to the people of rural Canada. Obviously you're right in there, rolling up your sleeves. I appreciate that.

To Will Amos, the member for Pontiac, congratulations on your motion.

I would be remiss, Minister, not to mention the member for Nickel Belt, who was appointed as your parliamentary secretary.

I am from Sault Ste. Marie, in northern Ontario. Northern Ontario is 90% of the land mass of Ontario, and there are a number of geographical issues and a number of remoteness issues, but I'm not going to delve into those. I am going to specifically talk about first nations.

There was an announcement recently under the previous program. Matawa First Nations Management connects four or five remote first nations in the Ring of Fire. It was important to do that for education, health care and remoteness. You know that there are first nations that deal with high rates of suicide because of their remoteness, and one of the things we've read about is the ability to connect people. The ability for people to support one other is important.

Bernadette, with that, I want to also talk about something you alluded to about the private-public sector partnership, because the private sector is involved up there. This is just a general statement. How important is it to you philosophically for the private sector to be involved, not only the big ones but the small and medium-sized enterprises across Canada and in northern Ontario?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Sheehan.

With regard to indigenous communities, 190 of the connect to innovate program approvals were for indigenous communities. I think that's quite a significant amount and it's something I'm happy to see. Like you said, we know that in some of our more remote regions specifically, there are a lot of challenges. People there rely on the Internet for things like health care and support, so it's extremely important.

With regard to your question about small and medium-sized companies, I've seen such great, innovative programs coming out of smaller areas from these small companies. It's because they have a vested interest in their communities and they want to make sure that their communities are connected. Sometimes it's things like co-operatives. Other times it's municipalities that have started their own ISPs. I think it's extremely important to have them at the table as part of the conversations we are having with regard to connectivity.

I know that we have to look at...as I've said many times already today, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Sometimes the best service will come from those smaller organizations. Sometimes it's going to come from the bigger companies. No matter how it comes about, though, it has to happen. I think that's the main thing I'd like to say: No matter who is connecting, we have to connect.

This isn't about a luxury anymore. This isn't about people binge-watching Netflix, although if that's what they want to do, that's great. This is about health care. This is about education. This is about banking. It's about growing businesses. It's about not having to go into a store. I was recently in a place in a rural area and I went to use my debit card. They said “Let's hope the phone doesn't ring.” They were still on dial-up. I mean, how do you grow a business when you don't have access to good-quality high-speed Internet? It's about safety.

All of the things you are saying are correct in terms of making sure we have all different partners at the table. We look at all different options when it comes to connecting people, but the ultimate goal is to connect them.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you.

I'm going to share my time with the parliamentary secretary for innovation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

You have about a minute left.

[Rémi Massé, Liberal, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Minister, for being here.

I, myself, am an example of someone in a rural area who has Internet connectivity issues. I have to be in a specific spot in my home in order to get cell phone service, and thus make and receive calls. In the mornings, if I want to check La Presse for the news, and one of my four sons is online doing homework, I have to tell him, or yell out to him, to get off the Internet so that I can access La Presse. It's a problem.

Now, there's light at the end of the tunnel. The $500 million that we've invested in the Connect to Innovate program is going to ensure all 58 municipalities in my riding have access to high-speed Internet at 50 megabytes per second. The installation work has already begun and will continue until next year. Now, we have ambitious goals.

Given all the funding that is now available, specifically, for infrastructure and the CRTC, how is everything coming together to continue the expansion of high-speed Internet connectivity further to your vision?

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Very briefly, please.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

With regard to the national connectivity strategy, we're working right now with all our partners to make sure that we look at all of the options available for funding. We want to make sure that we don't develop programs in silos, and that we look at umbrellas and at how we can best serve all members and what program is best for each area.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Excellent. Thank you.

For the final two minutes, we'll go to Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Amos' motion was a good motion. I'm happy to support it.

Motions can become law in regulation. My motion on microbeads did that and the previous government actually made it law.

How much of Mr. Amos' motion are you making law, and which sections, if not all?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Masse.

You're right, motions can become law. I had one myself that became the abandoned and derelict vessels law—

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Yes, and I worked with Sheila Malcolmson on that.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

—and I was very happy to see that happen.

With regard to Mr. Amos' motion, right now, we're looking at a broad range of ways we can address concerns with cellphone coverage and specifically with broadband.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Are you making it law? That's what I want to know.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I personally do not have any legislation in the works at the moment.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

What about through regulation?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

That does not mean to say that it can't be. That does not mean to say that as we go forward with a national connectivity strategy and how we develop our cellphone coverage that we wouldn't look at how that would go.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Why wouldn't the government make this law? What would be holding it up, especially section (c)?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I'm sorry. Section (c)?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I'm sorry. Section (c) is about equality for “rural and remote” areas. You shouldn't be expected to know exactly what.... It's rural and remote connectivity, that's what it is, and it's about equality for those two. Why not make that law?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

We've actually committed to making sure that we look at rural and remote connectivity. It's something that we've committed to financially. It's something that we've committed to with a minister to look after it. I think it's obvious that as a government we take this very seriously and that we're making sure when we roll out programs we look at them and make sure connectivity is part of that—