Sign the Petition to Get Canada Connected!

As schools, workplaces, stores, government services and community events move online, a whopping 59% of rural households across Canada still don’t have access to reliable high-speed (50/10 mbps) Internet.1

The federal government has committed to connect everyone by 2030, but that will still leave thousands of households out of the 21st century economy for another decade.2 It’s time to speed things up.

Sign the petition today asking the federal government to release a plan to connect our communities now!

Click here to see petition text

To Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains,

Cc Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; Minister of Rural Economic Development Maryam Monsef; Minister of Infrastructure and Community Development Catherine McKenna; Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal.

We are calling on you to immediately commit to the following steps to get Canada connected:

  1. Mandate a basic Internet package to ensure every single person in Canada has access to affordable, high-speed Internet. 
  2. Release new funding to support shovel-ready infrastructure development projects, connecting underserved rural areas with high-speed (50/10mbps) access during COVID-19. 
  3. Provide detailed plans and funding to move up your 2030 universal connectivity goals, and bring every single person in Canada online by 2025.

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COVID-19 has laid bare the massive digital divide in Canada. Millions of people are being isolated from their communities and from the 21st century economy during one of the worst crises of our generation. 

Waiting until 2030 to connect our communities as planned under the government’s current commitment is completely inadequate to address the needs of many rural, remote and low income communities. The pandemic has only highlighted an existing crisis – Canada’s digital divide. We need action and we need it yesterday – not in a decade!

That’s why we’re asking the government to move its target up to 2025, cutting the wait in half. We’re also asking them to take immediate steps for short-term solutions that will bring those who can be connected online before the COVID-19 crisis is over. 

The federal government must put forward a concrete plan that includes emergency connectivity for people isolated by the pandemic, and provides immediate funding for a rapid expansion of our national broadband networks to ensure everyone across Canada has access to affordable high-speed Internet.

Sources

  1. Communications Monitoring Report 2019 - CRTC
  2. Building a Better Canada: Universal High-Speed Internet - Government of Canada

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