Cloutier Says High-Speed A Must In The North
François Cloutier: High-speed internet service is essential in Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing
[ALGOMA-MANITOULIN-KAPUSKASING] – For some residents of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, access to high-speed internet is a luxury.
While the majority of Canadians take for granted their ability to quickly surf the internet or download applications on their iPhone, some in rural Canada still lack access to this basic service.
As you and I know, too many residents are leaving communities like Fauquier, Opasatika, Manitouwadge, Blind River and Gore Bay because they can’t find jobs or get access to essential services like health care, internet, education and, in some cases, even the basics like banking and mail service.
All Canadians should have similar levels of service, no matter where they live in Canada. It’s why the Liberal Party of Canada has put forth a clear objective to achieve 100% high-speed internet connectivity for Canadian communities and expand mobile phone coverage for rural and remote Canada within three years of being elected.
We plan to build the digital infrastructure for reliable internet and cell phone coverage so all residents of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing will have access to essential services like education, health care, economic development or online banking.
At the turn of the century, Canada ranked second in the world in internet connectivity, but has now fallen to 10th place under our current federal government. This is part of an ongoing trend of Canada falling behind during the five years of a Conservative government.
In 2006, Canada’s Telecommunications Review Panel recommended the federal government achieve 100% high-speed internet connectivity by 2010. This goal, like many others, has not been achieved over the last five years.
Over the last five years, the Conservative government has been neglecting the needs of rural Canadian families. Stephen Harper’s priorities of $21-billion stealth fighter planes, super prisons and tax breaks for big corporations are out of touch with the needs of rural Canadians.
The Liberal Party, under the leadership of Michael Ignatieff, has committed to bridging the urban-rural divide so that both urban and rural residents can share in Canada’s future prosperity. We’ve committed to supporting our volunteer firefighters, attracting much-needed doctors and nurses to rural Canadian communities, and ensuring that rural Canadians have the digital infrastructure their economies need to create jobs in their communities.
While railways and highways were the essential infrastructure of the 20th century, fibre optic lines, satellites and wireless towers are the digital infrastructure needed to connect our communities and strengthen our economy in the 21st century. It’s time all residents of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing had better access to internet and mobile phone coverage.
We need to ensure that we put our communities in a position to fully participate in the economy of the future, so that our kids can build their futures right here in communities like Kapuskasing, Elliot Lake, Little Current or Wawa.
In order to do so, however, we need a government with the right priorities, which is why whenever the next election comes we will be presenting the residents of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing with a clear choice.
The Liberal choice is to pay down the deficit and invest in priorities like expanding high speed internet access throughout Canada. The Conservative choice is for more costly plans that do not improve the lives of Canadian families.
François Cloutier is the federal Liberal candidate for Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing. He uses high-speed Internet to run his family-based translation business from Moonbeam, Ontario.
