Mr. Speaker, for parts i) and ii), according to data from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, in 2021, 99.2% of those living in urban areas had access to 50 megabits per second, or Mbps, download and 10 Mbps upload internet speeds, compared to 62% of those living in rural areas. This represents an increase for rural areas compared to 2019, when 45.6% had access to internet speeds of 50/10. Rural areas are defined as areas with a population of less than 1,000 or a density of 400 or fewer people per square kilometre.
Note that the estimates provided from the 2020 Canadian Internet Use Survey represent the percentage of Canadians who knew their advertised connection speed and subscribed to a speed tier of 50 Mbps or higher. If they chose not to subscribe to a speed tier of 50 Mbps or higher, they would not be included in this estimate, even if the service was available to them. Comparable data for 2022 will be available from the 2022 Canadian Internet Use Survey currently being collected. It will be released in July 2023.