Mr. Speaker, would you believe it? On the threshold of the 21st century there are families in Peterborough county without telephone service.
I was given the following directions to one of these homes: “Follow County Roads 8 and 40 to where the telephone lines stop, then follow the poles to our place”. These homes have telephone poles. They have neighbours with telephones but they are unable to get service.
This is unconscionable in rural Canada today, in the most connected nation in the world. The federal government has put all our schools on the Internet, but kids in these families cannot access it at home. They cannot even phone their friends.
I urge the government to intercede with Bell Canada and the CRTC to see to it that these Peterborough families get telephone service soon.