Scheer backs Que. calls for roadside wireless coverage

Opposition leader Andrew Scheer has added his voice to a campaign in Quebec to improve wireless phone coverage along a rural stretch of highway. In a press release Tuesday, Scheer said he was backing a pair of residents, Daniel Deschamps and Dany Morin, in their efforts to get cell coverage on Highway 155 between Lac-Bouchette and La Tuque. Scheer said he spoke with Morin in April and will meet with the pair when he travels to the region located about two-and-a-half hours north of Quebec City later this week for the international Lac Saint-Jean swimming race and related festivities. The 110-kilometre stretch of highway is found between the lake and Trois-Rivières, Que. It has made headlines in the Quebec press due to Morin’s long-standing efforts to improve wireless coverage in the area, and from Deschamps’ campaign to increase safety on the stretch after losing his daughter and granddaughter in a January collision. According to a January 2016 report in Trois-Rivières’ Le Nouvelliste, Rogers Communications Inc. cancelled a proposed connectivity project of six new cell towers, after a re-evaluation. A January press release from the city of La Tuque said a wider project proposed by Ambra Solutions Inc. was aiming to take advantage of provincial and federal funding programs to fill in the gaps in the region and along the highway. In April, CBC/Radio-Canada’s French-language service reported that Quebec premier Phillipe Couillard was waiting to hear from the federal government before committing any funding to constructing towers. “We will not put ourselves in a situation where we provide instead of those in whose jurisdiction it is,” Couillard said in the French-language report. “It’s not right to have no cellular coverage on Highway 155, it’s a matter of safety and economic development,” Scheer said in the release, adding that his Conservative party “will always work on issues that affect the regions of Quebec such as softwood lumber, supply management and better cellphone coverage.” To date, only one member of the Conservative caucus (not including presenting petitions from constituents), Quebec MP Bernard Généreaux, has mentioned the issue of wireless coverage in the House of Commons since the current session of Parliament began sitting in December 2015. In February, Généreaux questioned the deadline for the Connect to Innovate rural broadband program, which was extended to from March 13 to April 20. “We had also asked for more money to build cellphone towers in our regions because of the significant problems we have in Canada. Can the minister tell us when we can expect to have that money?” he asked during question period. “Justin Trudeau is running huge deficits, but won’t provide help to bring cellphone coverage to Highway 155,” Scheer said in the release. In response to questions from The Wire Report about how much money Scheer would like to see the federal government contribute to the project and why it should get involved, his spokeswoman Virginie Bonneau said in an email that we “live in a time where any lack of access to basic services like this is unacceptable. Any inability for Canadians to call 911 when they're in trouble is a matter of safety.” Regarding whether the Conservatives would be looking at other underserved areas of the country, Bonneau added that the “Liberals are happy to spend taxpayer dollars with no regard for the hardships that they will place on future generations, but when it comes to very providing very basic services and the safety of Canadians, they are silent. As the Opposition, we call on the Liberals to make sure that all highways and roads across the country have emergency services, such as 911, available." In an email from Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains’ office, spokesman Karl Sasseville pointed to the minister’s June speech at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto that “highlighted our government`s commitment to encourage the advancement of telecommunication services by focusing on the three things that matter most to Canadian families and businesses: high-quality networks, broad-reaching coverage and affordable prices.” He also highlighted a recent decision to have the CRTC reconsider excluding WiFi-based wireless operators from roaming services, the consultation on 5G, and new rules around next-generation satellite deployment. “This action will allow more satellite-based providers to enter the market and extend high-speed Internet services to Canadians in rural and remote communities across the country,” the email said. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also scheduled to attend events in the same region of Quebec Wednesday. A spokesman from the Prime Minister’s Office said in an email that a meeting between Trudeau and the group campaigning for improved cell coverage along Highway 155 “is not planned at this stage.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Scheer backs Que. calls for roadside wireless coverage

News | July 25, 2017

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Scheer backs Que. calls for roadside wireless coverage

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