Feds must be ‘very aggressive,’ move quickly on digital strategy: provincial innovation ministers

STRATFORD, Ont.— Ontario Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello says the federal government must be “very aggressive” and move fast on its digital economy strategy as Canada faces a plan south of the border that involves massive investment in broadband infrastructure and new spectrum allocations. “We need it now. If you look at our competition, it isn’t within Canada, it’s the world,” Pupatello said at the Canada 3.0 conference, hosted by the Canadian Digital Media Network and the University of Waterloo. “Ontario is going up against the US federal Treasury. It’s a province versus a country and a country’s initiative,” she said, indirectly alluding to the US Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband plan. “We need our federal government to partner with the provinces and be very aggressive between B.C., Quebec and Ontario … Imagine how strong we would be if we had a federal partner on these kinds of initiatives.” Under direction from the United States Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a National Broadband Plan on March 16. One of the plan’s central pillars is broadband access, proposing the creation of a fund to make 4 Mbps broadband available to every American citizen. The program would cost approximately $15.5 billion and span 10 years. The plan also seeks to establish the United States as the world leader in mobile innovation. It recommends making an additional 500 MHz of spectrum available for use by 2020, 300 MHz of which would be available within five years. On Monday federal Industry Minister Tony Clement launched a two-month consultation period to help inform a national digital economy strategy. Clement said the strategy will not be done “overnight or on the back of an envelope,” and said that, like other jurisdictions, it will take between six and 18 months to develop an action plan. In June 2009, Clement said a digital economy action plan would be launched in the fall of 2009, but it did not materialize. The government's consultation document focuses on five main areas: capacity to innovate using digital technologies; building a world-class digital infrastructure; growing the information and communications technology industry; creating Canada’s “digital content advantage”; and “building digital skills for tomorrow.” Clement said Monday that the federal government will collaborate with industry and the provincial governments on the strategy. Quebec Economic Development Minister Clément Gignac also said at the conference Tuesday that Quebec will be releasing a research and development and innovation strategy in the coming weeks. Gignac echoed the need for releasing a national strategy quickly. “We have to work together, it makes us much bigger,” he said. “We have to move fast.” Bernard Courtois, president and CEO of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), said the strategy will need the support of the federal and provincial governments. “You really would like to have the federal and provincial governments working together and collaborating,” he told The Wire Report. But the provinces, he said, will also be working on strategies. “They may be developing their strategies independently to some degree,” he said. Courtois said Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia are reviewing their ICT policies. “It just so happens that this is an extraordinary time in Canada where our four largest provinces are all working on their innovation and ICT strategies,” he said. Clement said Monday he plans to attend a meeting of provincial innovation ministers in Quebec City in late June. It marks the first time federal government representatives will attend the annual meeting, Courtois said. “This will be an extraordinary opportunity again for all the provinces to talk. Those ministers get together every year and up until now the federal government has not even attended those meetings,” he said. “There are a lot of things that are in provincial jurisdiction: education, skills, e-health. There are all kinds of things that need both federal and provincial involvement … It’s going to be much more productive if we get both levels of government involved.” Pupatello said the provinces need help expanding broadband networks. “Structurally, it’s harder for us to get connectivity. For us to do it individually is wildly expensive, we need the federal government on side,” she said. “It’s happening, but not happening soon enough. We share a frustration in needing to see movement quicker.” On May 9, Clement announced funding for 52 projects under the Broadband Canada initiative to connect rural communities. kfournier@thewirereport.ca

Feds must be ‘very aggressive,’ move quickly on digital strategy: provincial innovation ministers

Broadcast | May 11, 2010

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