Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Canada Has 'No Plan' To Bring Broadband To Rural and Remote Communities, Watchdog Says (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Canada has "no plan" to wire up remote communities that lack high-speed broadband connections, Canada's auditor general said in a scathing report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. From a report: The report comes just two years after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, an Indigenous community at the border of Manitoba and Ontario, and vowed that his government would work to end the digital divide that leaves rural and remote communities without high-speed internet.

"This report says what we already knew, which is that there is no strategy to bring the rest of Canada online," Laura Tribe, executive director of advocacy group Openmedia, said in a phone call. "What we keep hearing from the government is increasing numbers -- 80 percent, 90 percent -- but until we're at 100 percent, the problem isn't solved."

6 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Problems by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Informative

    A lot of our problems arise from the fact that we are a country with 4 people per KM^2.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re:Problems by Luthair · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is a bogus argument, vast parts of the land are completely uninhabited. Telcos also like to bring up this sort of fact when the reality is that the areas they actually cover have density no lower than the rest of the world.

    2. Re:Problems by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Its a bogus argument because we aren't trying to cover the entire landmass with highspeed internet, we're only trying to hit the areas where people are.

    3. Re: Problems by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Liberals have only been in power for 3 years.

      Also, the summary implies they went from 80% coverage to 90%. That is a dramatic improvement, so I don't see what people are whining about.

      Saying "until we're at 100 percent, the problem isn't solved" is idiotic. Nothing is ever 100%. That would mean every alley or campsite with a homeless bum needs to have broadband.

  2. Re:role of government by Luthair · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Well, the reason rural locations have access to electricity and phone lines is due to the government having a role in getting those lines deployed in the past.

  3. Not to Worry by rally2xs · · Score: 3, Informative

    Canada's gov't is right to stay out of this. Why? Because it's expensive and unnecessary.

    Elon Musk is going to "wire" the world with over 10,000 low earth orbiting satellites:

    https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/s...

    Low earth orbiting means the latency problem won't be a problem, and you can use 'em to do your First Person Shooter games with low ping times. Will require some waiting, but you can't wire up Canada before Elon Musk / Toney Stark / Iron Man launches his 10,000+ satellites. Hey, when you've got rockets that work and are much cheaper than anyone else's, you can do s*** like that...