Thank you to the member from Hastings–Lennox and Addington for the question.

We are allocating $4 billion to connect every Ontarian to high-speed Internet by the end of 2025.

Last week, my parliamentary assistant, the member from Brampton West, joined the federal government to announce an investment of $56 million towards high-speed Internet connectivity in eastern Ontario. Powered by Bell and Cogeco, these three projects will bring access to Birds Creek, Buckhorn and Bobcaygeon. Bell’s projects are set to be completed by December 2025, and Cogeco’s project is set to be completed by March 2024.

This investment in high-speed Internet means that 16,000 homes will now have access.

The member is correct; our government has made a commitment to bring high-speed Internet access to every Ontarian by the end of 2025. We have already invested over $950 million towards nearly 190 high-speed Internet projects that have connected roughly 375,000 homes and businesses, which also include premises in eastern Ontario.

This summer, we announced the eight successful Internet service providers from the reverse auction process. These eight ISPs are bringing access to up to 266,000 underserved and unserved homes and businesses within 339 municipalities.

We are now focusing on our last-mile strategy to close the digital divide, and we have 40,000 to 60,000 premises to go. We are almost there. Our government will get the job done.