Mr. Speaker, the issue at the heart of the hon. member's question is the importance of affordable access to broadband services for all Canadians. This is an issue we can all agree on.
For Canada to succeed in the digital economy of today and tomorrow, all Canadians must have access to leading-edge broadband infrastructure. It is absolutely critical that rural Canadians have access to the same broadband services as do urban Canadians. Broadband is increasingly the platform over which public services, such as health care education, are provided to citizens and it is how Canadian culture, news and community engagement are being delivered to homes. It is also a key enabler of economic development and opportunity in regions across the country.
The community access program was created to bring computer and Internet technologies to Canadians across the country in order to encourage them to participate in the knowledge-based economy. In 1995, when CAP was established, only 40% of Canadian households had a computer and only one in ten of these households had Internet access. By helping to put computers connected to the Internet into libraries, schools and other sites across the country, CAP successfully helped Canadians connect during a time when an Internet connection at home was an exception to the rule. My, how things have changed.
In 2010, more than three-quarters of Canadian homes had broadband Internet connection. What is more, over 30% of us are connected to broadband networks everywhere we go, through our mobile wireless devices like the ubiquitous BlackBerry. This is a direction Canada must continue on, making sure broadband is accessible to every Canadian home and making sure we have the infrastructure in place to support the boom in mobile communications.
That is why the Government of Canada invested more than $88 million in Broadband Canada, connecting rural Canadians throughout the Thunder Bay—Superior North region and the great Kenora riding. I think the member probably missed it. He was musing about seating arrangements here in the House of Commons, no doubt, when we made that important announcement that this government was committed to bringing faster and higher quality Internet to more than 218,000 households across the country. That is a remarkable achievement.
For a country as large and diverse as Canada, we know the work is far from over and more must be done to increase access to more advanced services, increasing consumer choice, lower prices and the changing technology of the computer industry itself.
We recently announced decisions that will continue to promote our goals of competition and investment in the sector and to see that all Canadians indeed benefit, including those in rural areas.
We are supporting competition and investment in the upcoming spectrum auctions by applying rules that will enable new wireless competitors to access the spectrum that they need to meet consumer demand for mobile broadband.
We are applying specific measures in the upcoming auction to see that Canadians in rural areas have access to the most advanced services in a timely manner. All Canadians should be able to benefit from the fastest mobile speeds and the latest devices. These are the first specific measures of their kind in Canada.
Finally, we are also extending and improving the existing wireless roaming and tower-sharing policy to further facilitate competition. These policies provide access to existing networks and infrastructure to support better services for consumers.
Together, these actions are helping to provide Canadians across the country with more choices at lower prices for the broadband services that have become so important in our daily life.