Industry Committee on Nov. 19th, 2020

[Éric Dagenais]

Thanks, Mr. Kennedy.

We have an extensive consultation with provinces, territories and municipalities. One of the big things that people were complaining about was the hexagon model. We listened, and our mapping team developed a new mapping tool. The hexagon is now gone, and we're now using 250-metre road segments. It may sound like a very technical improvement, but it's actually a game-changer in terms of people's ability to file applications that actually meet the needs of people on the ground. With the hexagon model, the complaint was that there were people who were left behind and ineligible despite not having service.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Thank you very much for your testimony and all your hard work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

With that, I will turn to Mr. Lemire.

You may go ahead for six minutes.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Don't you mean two and a half minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

This is the first round with our second panel.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Okay. Even better.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

First, in response to Mr. Ehsassi's comment, I'd like to say I agree with him. At the same time, I cannot forget that, when my fellow member Mr. Cumming asked the minister how much of the investments had been allocated to date, she answered “zero”.

Mr. Kennedy, my question is for you.

The connect to innovate program was launched in 2016 and was supposed to end on March 31, 2021. It was extended until March 31, 2023 thanks to additional funding set out in budget 2019. That means approved projects have to be completed by March 31, 2023.

The program aims to connect about 975 communities by 2023, but we have yet to see any results. In February 2020, only 29 communities had been connected. Things are not moving any faster in November. More than 200 agreements were signed, but we are still waiting on connectivity. If this were a government priority, we would see communities being connected at a satisfactory pace.

Is the program ill-suited to rural areas?

What challenges do you come up against?

[Simon Kennedy]

Thank you for your question.

As I explained, these are fairly complicated infrastructure projects. Obviously, our goal is to move them along as quickly as possible.

Is the interpretation coming through?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Mr. Kennedy, are you on the French channel? If you are speaking French, you must be on the French channel; otherwise the translation won't work.

[Simon Kennedy]

I see.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you for making an effort.

[Simon Kennedy]

Is that working for everyone?

Very good.

I had briefly explained that these infrastructure projects can be rather complicated in some cases. I am going to turn the floor over to Éric Dagenais because he is more familiar with the circumstances and projects in Quebec. He can give you more details.

[Éric Dagenais]

Thank you for your question.

We expect 100 communities to have connectivity by the end of 2020, a total of 750 to be connected by the end of 2021 and all 975 to be connected by the end of 2023. Over the past nine months, of course, the pandemic has caused delays for Internet service providers in Quebec and other parts of the country. Nevertheless, a lot of progress has still been made. We are on track to meet the 2023 target of connecting 975 communities.

I should also point out that, initially, the goal was to connect 300 communities. When all is said and done, we will have connected 975, thanks to $85 million in additional funding. In that regard, we have met the goals of the connect to innovate program.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

A call for proposals was put out this summer. When will you announce the projects selected for funding?

[Éric Dagenais]

Which call for proposals are you referring to, specifically? There was no call for proposals under….

The call for proposals for the connect to innovate program closed a while ago.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I'm referring to the one from June, which was postponed until August.

[Éric Dagenais]

That is the broadband fund, established by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I see.

My apologies.

[Éric Dagenais]

That's no problem. The CRTC is part of the federal government.

I can't speak to when the CRTC will announce the recipients of the funding under the process that was postponed until August 2020. Of the $750 million in available funding, a total of five projects valued at $72 million were announced by the CRTC in August. Other projects will be announced, but I can't tell you when. I'm not privy to that information. The CRTC is an independent body and does not necessarily share its decision-making timetable with staff at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I will put the question to CRTC officials.

Distributors are under no obligation to provide connectivity to a given area in its entirety, so is your plan to ultimately rely on low earth orbit satellite technology?

That's what the answers we got from the minister seem to suggest.

On Tuesday, we heard from the people at SpaceX, and we asked them about the possibility of connecting everyone in a given area. They said they would be ready to deploy their technology throughout Canada very quickly, perhaps even in the next year.

Is that a concrete part of your strategy, and if so, how does it fit in?

Will any of the $750 million in additional funding announced last week be put towards that?

[Simon Kennedy]

Madam Chair, I think Éric Dagenais should answer those questions.

[Éric Dagenais]

Thank you for your questions.

Yes, satellite technology is certainly part of the solution. We will see the project applications we receive in February. There is no doubt that Canada's geography makes it really difficult to bring fibre-optic cable into certain areas. The answer is yes, we expect that low earth orbit satellite technology will bring connectivity to some communities. In the medium term, it may be 1% or 2% of communities.

New technologies promise download speeds of 50 megabits per second and upload speeds of 10 megabits per second. That's why we have an agreement with Telesat to serve very remote communities.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

Our next round of questions goes to MP Masse.

You have the floor for six minutes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll continue with that.

Are there any thresholds—minimums and maximums—for pricing? If there are, how long do they extend for those communities? Obviously pricing is a big part of accessibility in that.

[Simon Kennedy]

Madam Chair, I will again turn to my colleague Éric, who actually runs the programming, to speak a little bit about this issue.

Obviously, affordability is a key objective of the government. There are a variety of programs and measures on affordability. In terms of the actual arrangements that we have to subsidize deployment of broadband, I'll turn to Éric on that.