Evidence of meeting #13 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was internet.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Mr. Masse, we'll go to you. If you have a question for Madam Tribe, when she gets back on we can try to figure something out.
6:30 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
It's okay. I do, but I also want to make sure that I ask a question for one of my neighbours to the mayor from St. Clair Township.
Perhaps you can talk about how important it is to have our own domestic support systems for Internet. In Windsor, where I'm from, we get bounced and also we pick up Detroit signals and roaming charges and so forth. Maybe you can highlight that to people who aren't familiar with what can happen to Canadians living on the border, and talk about the charges we can get through roaming.
6:30 p.m.
Mayor, City of St. Clair Township
Thank you very much for the question.
You're absolutely right. We get non-stop charges for roaming in the United States. We can be as far away as 10 to 12 kilometres from the border and we're still picking up those charges. You end up having to get your bill redone, and you always end up paying more.
The Internet is worse. We had a new Rogers tower put up just outside the village of Sombra, which is right along the St. Clair River. What happened is that in the first two weeks the Internet was wonderful in the village. People couldn't get over it. Then, all of a sudden, the Americans in Marine City found out it was there. They sucked all the bandwidth out of the tower, and it was far worse than it was before. What Rogers did, in their infinite wisdom, was they turned the satellite signal around, and it did absolutely nothing.
You're absolutely right. It's a real challenge. That's why fibre is the only option for us.
6:30 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Yes, I think that's important too. I only have a little time left, but maybe you could highlight what's necessary for your municipal emergency services. It's not just about the inconvenience of getting a charge with regard to a cost, but also in times of emergency and so forth, fibre really is what's necessary for places such as yours.
6:30 p.m.
Mayor, City of St. Clair Township
Absolutely, because with fibre you get that connectivity. Anything through the air will get bounced around in Michigan. Maybe it will come back, but maybe not, and then we have people who get caught with disasters on their hands not being able to communicate with anyone.
Our cell service is another thing that's a major issue. It just disappears in certain areas.
6:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Thank you very much, MP Masse, for your flexibility.
Madam Tribe is back.
Mr. Savard-Tremblay, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.
6:30 p.m.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
I don't see Ms. Tribe on the screen. Can you confirm that she can hear the interpretation this time?
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
Perfect. Thank you.
In your presentation, you talked about the idea of nationalizing the network.
How would this work in practice?
Have you thought about the potential costs involved? In short, how would this work and what would be the broad strokes?
Could you elaborate on this idea?
6:35 p.m.
Executive Director, OpenMedia
Thank you, and thank you for your patience.
When we are talking about the plans for putting this forward, for us, the plan needs to be national and the funding needs to be national. In terms of who the government is funding, I don't necessarily believe, and we don't necessarily believe, that the government needs to own those networks.
It could be a matter of the government building them on an open access model and then allowing other providers to provide the service over them. I think that what is more likely and probably faster than having the government decide to get into the Internet service business is to instead ramp up the services we already have, which are investing in those who have the expertise in those areas, to make sure they're building on the services they've already started.
Does that help?
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
In other words, if I understood your explanation correctly, the issue is more about the establishment of a national plan than nationalization. Is that correct? I just want to make sure that we're clear on the terms.
6:35 p.m.
Executive Director, OpenMedia
Yes, that is what I mean. I think there are worlds in which more dramatic intervention could look like that, but I think the plan we are putting forward is for the government to fund those smaller providers, as opposed to taking over the networks to operate them themselves.
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
This would include a subsidy plan, a support plan.
Madam Chair, I can see that a card is up. Is my time up?
6:35 p.m.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC
So we're talking more about a subsidy plan, about funding for small and medium-sized businesses, which would provide the services in this system. Is that correct?
6:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
We'll go now to the third round.
MP Patzer, you have five minutes.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My question to start with will be for Steve Arnold.
Steve, you mentioned that your area had received funding through the SWIFT program. I'm just curious about how much of that funding has shown up and whether you have been able to address any gaps with that funding.
6:35 p.m.
Mayor, City of St. Clair Township
We're right at the start of it. We were just told in January that the money was coming. It'll be put through Cogeco. They've shown us the areas where that money will be spent. It revolves around Enbridge now and their wellheads in some of the more remote areas. All of it will be spent along the St. Clair River, which is where we need it.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Okay. Are there any other funding programs you've applied for or been able to receive?
6:35 p.m.
Mayor, City of St. Clair Township
We've applied for four different funds over a number of years. With one of the ones that we did receive—and I don't have the name off the top of my head—we could not even find a provider that would put the service in for us. They weren't interested for that kind of money.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Was that when you were referencing the $8,500 per resident? Was that the cost then?
6:35 p.m.
Mayor, City of St. Clair Township
No, this was prior to that. It was about four or five years ago that we were going through this process. There were three municipalities that were involved in it. We could not get a provider to pick up the grant and provide the service for us.
6:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I'm interested, though. For the $8,500, was that for people within the community, or was that out to acreages and out to farms? What was the nature of the $8,500 per resident?