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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 14

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
December 9, 2021 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 14 - Dec/9/21
Ms. Lianne Rood (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, CPC)
  • Dec/9/21 7:39:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on November 30, I asked the minister why the Liberal government was always leaving rural Canadians behind, and I did not receive an answer to that question. In fact, what I did receive was a bunch of talking points on what the government hopes to accomplish with broadband by 2030. While I certainly will not downplay the importance of a well-formulated plan for rural broadband, what the government is offering is not that. There are many questions that deserve an answer, such as why 2030 was chosen as the target year. If rural Canadians are important to the government, then why not set a target for 2025, which is what the Conservatives proposed? That is not all. I also wonder why the government is only targeting 5010 megabytes per second, a speed that certainly is not fast when compared with urban centres, which can have speeds of a gigabyte available. What about the cost of broadband in rural areas? Constituents are calling my office about this all the time. They are very frustrated because they are paying upwards of $1,000 a month for their cell phone bills because there is no high-speed Internet available. People are trying to work from home and take their time to do school from home, and they just cannot stream into the video options without using cellular data. I want to know what the government's plan is to deal with affordability and stability. There is no accountability for service providers, which take the federal funding for projects bringing broadband to rural areas and then delay the last mile. Why is there no accountability to get that last mile finished? Given the government's record on managing other affordability crises, I am really skeptical of any grand promises of help from the government. Rural Canadians have little choice than to wait and rely on action from the government when they are consistently faced with a downward spiral for their livelihoods. Allow me to name a few priorities for the minister that go beyond broadband, priorities that would also make a difference in the lives of rural Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Our migration from urban areas is driving the need for housing support and infrastructure. With municipalities unable to run a deficit, they often struggle to meet demands for such resources without assistance from provincial or federal governments. Where does the minister stand on committing funding to partnerships with municipalities in need? It should come as no surprise that small businesses are a concern to rural Canada because they are the backbone of our economy. In rural Canada, a shortage of labour hurts the small community businesses that provide goods and services to towns. If it hurts small towns, it hurts our agriculture sector and our natural resource sector. It is a domino effect that will also affect revenue from exports. Without fixing this problem quickly, it will compound. We need to be taking measures to encourage work in rural Canada to help our economy thrive. What is the minister doing to address the labour shortage to help get people into these vacant jobs?
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Context: House Hansard - 14 - Dec/9/21
Ms. Lianne Rood
  • Dec/9/21 7:47:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the parliamentary secretary for his response. However, I must emphasize the importance of these concerns. Something the Liberal government needs to understand is that we are all Canadians regardless of geography and where we live, and we are all deserving of equal representation. Here are a few concerns directly from my riding. A professor at Western University has written in to say he cannot offer his students the same services he did before the pandemic because of a lack of reliable Internet. Parents calling me are at their wits' end, frustrated that their children cannot receive a proper education or access online school because of poor Internet quality. It is unacceptable that rural Canadians cannot connect to high-speed Internet and that the voices of rural Canadians have not been heard by the Liberal government. I will continue to raise the concerns of rural Canadians and fight for their issues until we get solutions.
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