Mr. Speaker, ever since the Minister of Industry announced the creation of the broadband Canada program, hundreds of people across Quebec have mobilized to rally for high-speed Internet access for their regions. Just as the minister asked, these working groups have done their homework and developed projects that meet the program criteria.
Where I am from, the Conférence régionale des élus developed a program that has unanimous support in the region. It would offer high-speed Internet access to almost all constituents in my region.
By working on these hundreds of projects, people from rural areas could finally look forward to having the tools they need to do business in the 21st century and adopting the means to keep young people in the regions.
Unfortunately, while these fine individuals, most of them volunteers, were doing their homework, the minister did not do his and the current delays are still compromising high-speed Internet access in the regions.