Mr. Speaker, in 2017 the government announced a partnership with Bell Canada to upgrade the Internet in northwestern Ontario. Over $4 million in funding was announced to bring this high-speed connection to a number of communities, including Madsen and Shoal Lake 39 in the Kenora riding. These communities were explicitly promised a high-speed connection by the Liberal government. Now, four years later, many residents have been telling me that they have not seen any progress, that there has not been any improvement in their connection.
The Liberals talk very often about how much money they have shovelled out the door to support different broadband projects. I am sure that we will hear some of that in the response to my question, but it seems that time and time again they would get an âAâ for the announcement but an âFâ for the delivery.
We know that rural and remote northern communities are used to being left behind by the government, especially when it comes to the issue of reliable Internet access. It seems that the government is very happy to get credit for the announcement of the funding but are not so keen on implementation. That is why I raised this issue back in January in question period. I asked the government where that promised money had gone, if it was not to bring Internet to northwestern Ontario, because we know that it has been allocated, yet we have not seen the results. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a straight answer at that time.
The bottom line is that residents in my riding and across northwestern Ontario need to see some transparency. More importantly, they need to see some results.
I would like to take this opportunity to simply ask again where the $4 million was actually spent and why it has not resulted in better Internet service for the residents in my riding and across northwestern Ontario who were promised it.