articles
January 12, 2001
Bringing Broadband to Canadians
by Barbara Fletcher
Minister of Industry, Brian Tobin, wants to make sure that you and everyone else in Canada have
access to high-speed
broadband Internet services by 2004.
He wants us to be the "most connected country in the world".
Back on October 16 the Ministry promised that a new
task force would be established to "advise the Government of Canada on how best make high-speed
broadband Internet services available to businesses and residents in all Canadian communities by the
year 2004."
And yesterday at its first meeting in Ottawa, Tobin announced the appointment of
members to the
National Broadband Task Force, chaired by
Professor David Johnston from the
University of Waterloo.
The task force's mandate
is to:
• examine the broadband situation in representative communities
• report on potential barriers and possible service carriers
• report on roles the government will need to play
• determine whether or not pilot projects would be useful
• advise on the rate of uptake of current high speed internet use
• provide general advice regarding how best to meet the 2004 objective
The task force believes that access to high-speed broadband Internet services will provide Canadians
with improved learning and health resources -- not to mention communication between remote, rural,
and urban communities and improved regional and local economic development.
The federal government has already begun Connecting
Canadians online through various projects including Canadian Content Online, Smart Communities,
SchoolNet, VolNet, LibraryNet, NetCorps, and many more.
The National Broadband Task Force will report its findings to the Canadian government early this
Spring.