Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to join the adjournment proceedings this evening. I want to talk about the issue that I raised in the House and heard from the parliamentary secretary on. That of course is access to reliable high-speed Internet.
Now, more than ever, Canadians are counting on having access to reliable high-speed Internet. The strain of the pandemic has forced many people to work from home and students to learn from home. In rural areas in eastern Ontario, particularly in my riding of Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, this has caused an issue with the amount of bandwidth available for folks who are running their businesses on already very limited options, including by getting their Internet over the air, for example.
Small business owners need to be able to connect to the virtual marketplace, and lockdowns have really exacerbated that problem and created a much bigger need than we had before. Farmers, who are on the cutting edge of sustainability, need to be able to connect for crop, herd and soil management. That really is essential so that they continue to feed our families with the highest quality product in the most effective way possible.
We have also seen during COVID-19 the need of seniors to be able to connect to and access their health care services. More and more we are seeing an increase in the use of telemedicine services, which is fantastic, in more urban areas where high-speed Internet is the rule and not the exception. That is a wonderful thing, but here in eastern Ontario, as an example of many places across rural Canada, it is a tremendous challenge and greatly reduces access to care, especially when people are very concerned about their health and unable to travel to medical appointments.
Family members have been forced to be apart from each other for a year now and we expect to continue to be apart for months to come. For many people, connecting virtually using FaceTime, Skype or Zoom is their lifeline. That is how they are seeing updates, whether from their loved ones who may be in quarantine or self-isolation, or even just grandparents getting an update by connecting with their grandkids.
The need for high-speed Internet is pronounced. We have really seen an increase in that over the past year. The universal broadband fund was announced well over 700 days ago and people in my community and across eastern Ontario are still struggling to connect. Following the announcement of that fund, we heard a subsequent announcement and then again, in late 2020, a further announcement of that fund.
What we need from the government is action. We have heard the talk. We have heard that it wants to do it. The government is very eager to compare its record for connecting Canadians against previous governments. I think it is pretty clear that the need for high-speed Internet has only increased and the need for action has increased. Comparing the government's record on high-speed Internet connectivity with any other government's record before it is not really an apples-to-apples comparison.
When will the government take the steps that are needed to finally—