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Hon. Kinga Surma

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Etobicoke Centre
  • Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Lloydmanor Shopping Centre Unit 102 201 Lloyd Manor Rd. Etobicoke, ON M9B 6H6 Kinga.Surmaco@pc.ola.org
  • tel: 416-234-2800
  • fax: 416-234-2276
  • Kinga.Surma@pc.ola.org

  • Government Page
  • Mar/7/24 11:30:00 a.m.

Of course, thank you very much to the hard-working member.

Mr. Speaker, we were re-elected to build Ontario and part of that commitment is making sure that everyone has access to high-speed Internet. Our goal was to connect everyone by the end of 2025. We have allocated $4 billion. We have invested $2.4 billion for 200 projects across this province.

I’m really happy to provide an update. As you all know, we executed on the reverse auction last year where we took lots that were not connected. We put it out to the market, and through that reverse auction we intend on connecting 266,000 premises.

Mr. Speaker, I’m really pleased to say that White River in northern Ontario now has access to high-speed Internet, thanks to the Premier’s leadership in making sure that everyone is connected by the end of 2025. This is really important because this just proves how important connecting northern communities is to our government, and we will get the job done.

Given the size and the topography of Ontario, we knew that in order to connect every single household in the province of Ontario, we would have to explore all different types of technology and look at innovative solutions.

Mr. Speaker, to close the gaps, we are exploring satellite technology. In fact, on behalf of the province of Ontario, Infrastructure Ontario has led a new procurement. They have now narrowed it down to two satellite providers, and in the summer, we will announce the satellite provider that will connect the remaining 43,000 premises. These are the hardest-to-reach places. These are the remote communities. These are the municipalities that are surrounded by rock. Every option was explored, and we are on our way to connect every home by the end of 2025.

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