Connect to Innovate applicants should hear back soon: Jordan

OTTAWA — After details emerged last week that 60 per cent of applicants to the federal government’s Connect to Innovate (CTI) program still hadn’t been informed about whether their applications were successful, rural economic development minister Bernadette Jordan said that 85 per cent of the projects will “have shovels in the ground this summer.” She told MPs on the House industry committee that because of the $85 million top-up to the program in this year’s budget, there are “still some applications that are being looked at.” Applications were due in March 2017. “Hopefully we’ll have those answers in the next few weeks, and then we can make sure people are notified,” Jordan said in an interview after appearing before the House of Commons industry committee. The Wire Report reported on May 9 that 532 of the 892 applicants for funding had not yet heard whether or not they would receive any money. The program, which allocated $500 million in the 2016 budget with the goal of improving high speed internet in some 300 communities, got an additional $85 million in the 2019 federal budget as part of a promised $1.7 billion in spending for rural broadband. The total ask from applicants amounted to $4.4 billion. In January, the ministry of Innovation said that it expected most of the program agreements to be signed by April 2019. Responding to concerns about delays at committee, Jordan said “we know that it’s been sometimes a little bit longer than people would like to see. But it also takes time to make the designs for these communities. We’re making sure that were not only building band-aid solutions, we’re building this for the future.” Conservative MP Dan Albas pointed to a November report from the auditor general, which identified what it called a number of “weaknesses in the design” of the program, pointing to a lack of transparency and not weighting the criteria used to select projects. The Connect to Innovate program is jointly administered by the ISED and the newly created ministry for Rural Economic Development. It is unclear what portion of the $585 million ISED is responsible for and what portion the new ministry will distribute. At the meeting on Thursday, Albas accused Jordan of electioneering. “Your government wanted to announce these projects initially, and then you wait to spend the money so you could re-announce them before the upcoming election. I think, minister, that the Canadian public will see through that ruse,” Albas told Jordan. The minister countered by pointing out that the program is aiming to connect some 900 rural communities with high speed internet, three times the number of communities initially envisioned by the program. “The Connect to Innovate program was one that was extremely popular with people. It was over-subscribed. That’s one of the reasons we put new money in the budget to make sure that we could top up that fund,” Jordan told the committee. — With reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Connect to Innovate applicants should hear back soon: Jordan

News | May 16, 2019

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Connect to Innovate applicants should hear back soon: Jordan

News | May 16, 2019

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