Amos calls for industry committee to examine CRTC’s rural broadband role

OTTAWA — As the House industry committee prepares to begin a study on the state of Canada’s rural wireless infrastructure after the passage of the private member's motion M-208, the motion’s sponsor Liberal MP William Amos today told the committee that its focus should be on examining the role of the CRTC in improving rural access. “We need to engage in a dialogue with the CRTC and this committee is, I believe, the ideal organ for that dialogue to explore what more can be done,” Amos said. “What options are there in terms of legislative reform in order to better enable the institution of the CRTC, as regulator, to generate superior access outcomes?” The representative for Pontiac -- which includes a significant swath of rural areas -- also said that that the CRTC’s $750 million broadband fund was not enough. “I believe the CRTC can do more,” Amos told the committee, while also trumpeting the Liberal government’s $1.7 billion pledge to rural broadband funding over 13 years in the 2019 budget. The CRTC’s rural broadband fund will begin accepting applicants this summer. In an emailed statement, CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao said the CRTC “only holds a few of the levers” when it comes to achieving full coverage across the country. “To achieve the goal, a collaborative approach is required by all stakeholders, which includes both private and public support,” she said. During the meeting, Conservative MP Michael Chong spoke about the difference between internet prices in his riding of Wellington-Halton Hills -- which forms a ring around the city of Guelph -- and the much lower prices in Guelph itself. Chong said that an average Guelph resident pays about $50 a month for internet whereas residents outside of Guelph in Wellington county would pay roughly $300 a month for the same internet package. Amos replied that while he agreed that affordability is “a crucial issue for every single family, every household in Canada,” he pointed to what he described as the “inadequate” efforts during ten years of Conservative government. “There has to be a recognition that past policies of the Conservative government didn’t work,” Amos said. The back-and-forth comes as this publication reported today that some 60 per cent of applicants to the Connect-to-Innovate program for rural broadband -- administered through Innovation Canada -- have not yet heard back. The program stopped accepting applications in March 2017.

Amos calls for industry committee to examine CRTC’s rural broadband role

Brief | May 9, 2019

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Amos calls for industry committee to examine CRTC’s rural broadband role

Brief | May 9, 2019

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