Madam Speaker, I am very happy to respond to the hon. member for Dufferin—Caledon about the need for Canadians in rural communities to have access to reliable and affordable telecommunications services.
Our government recognizes the importance of broadband and mobile services for all Canadians to fully participate in the digital economy. We know the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced how critical these services are to our economy, our communities and our society as a whole. Our government does have a plan to connect all Canadians, no matter where they live, to the high-speed Internet services everyone needs to work, to learn and to keep in touch with loved ones. We are committed to connecting all Canadians, even the hardest to reach, by 2030.
Through several coordinated initiatives, we have made billions of dollars available, and we are already seeing progress. Under the connect to innovate program, the government is investing over $585 million to improve high-speed Internet. Partners in the private sector, the provinces and the territories have provided significant co-funding, and the investments total more than $1.2 billion. Connect to innovate is delivering real results.
We anticipate bringing improved Internet connectivity to over 975 communities, 190 of which are indigenous communities. This will improve access for approximately 390,000 households and 1,200 anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries and medical facilities across the country from coast to coast to coast.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the CRTC, is also taking action to expand Internet and sell access through its $750-million fund. The first five projects announced under the CRTC's fund will connect over 10,000 households in 51 communities, the significant majority of which are indigenous communities.
Building on these efforts in budget 2019, the government announced historic investments of $1.7 billion in broadband, our country's single largest investment to advance these goals.
As indicated in the recent 2020 Speech from the Throne, the government will accelerate the connectivity timelines and ambitions of the universal broadband fund to ensure that all Canadians have access to high-speed Internet. The government has been engaging with stakeholders to ensure the fund responds to rural needs, and we look forward to a program launch very shortly.
We will also take advantage of other measures to promote rural access. This includes investments in low-earth orbit satellites to ensure that even the most challenging northern and beautiful remote areas have access to increased investments for broadband from the Canadian Infrastructure Bank, as well as spectrum policy tools and accelerated investment incentives.
Finally, the government is working with the telecommunications industry to ensure that Canadians stay connected and Canada's networks remain resilient in these challenging times.
In conclusion, the government is committed to ensuring all Canadians have universal access and is rolling out a number of important initiatives to realize that objective. I look forward to working with my colleague across the House to make sure we connect all Canadians.