Mr. Speaker, I would like to know how a $4-billion investment, the largest in our provincial history, is not making access to high-speed Internet a priority.

Prior to COVID, there were 700,000 premises that did not have connections to high-speed Internet. We are now working on making sure that we connect the remaining 40,000 to 60,000 premises. Now, I would say that that is very good progress, Mr. Speaker, but we have not seen any support from the members opposite.

We will continue to make sure that we make those investments, but we pay our Internet service providers when they fulfill their project timelines and when they meet their milestones for construction, The $4 billion is there; we will continue to make sure that everyone is connected and no one is left behind.

Thank you so much to the member for the question. It was such a pleasure to visit Thunder Bay with my colleagues last week. While we were in Thunder Bay, we announced the Internet service providers that will be building 14 high-speed Internet projects, an investment of $8.4 million through the province of Ontario’s ICON program, which was actually the very first application-based program created by my colleague the MPP from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock. This $8.4 million will go a long way, as it will connect 11,000 businesses and homes in northern Ontario to high-speed Internet.

It was such a pleasure to speak with municipalities as well as residents in Thunder Bay about the importance of getting that work done as quickly as possible and making sure that no one is left behind.

Why this is so important is, we’re investing in over 200 projects currently today—$2.3 billion. We want every single resident to be able to access that information online and see when the project starts, how much funding is being committed to it and which technology will be used. Again, we will not leave anyone behind.

Thank you very much to the member opposite.

Our government truly recognizes how important access to high-speed Internet is, no matter where you live in the province of Ontario. I think we can all agree that COVID has certainly changed things and made it a necessity in terms of being able to educate your child, being able to contact your doctor and/or work from home, which is why our government is investing $4 billion to make sure that every single premises in the province of Ontario is connected by the end of 2025.

I would just remind the member opposite that this is the most ambitious high-speed Internet broadband program in the country.

We are not only investing $4 billion—

Interjections.

Again, I will repeat: An investment of $4 billion is a historic financial investment in the province of Ontario.

We have also taken the initiative to present legislation in this House to expedite the delivery of broadband, high-speed Internet projects across this province, and we are consistently interacting with Internet service providers that have participated, be it in our application-based programming, our partnership with the federal government, or our reverse option to make sure that even the toughest, hardest-to-reach places are invested in. We will get everyone connected.

Thank you very much to the member for the question.

As everyone knows, we are investing $159 billion over 10 years to build critical infrastructure across this province. Four billion dollars of that fund will be allocated to make sure that everybody in the province of Ontario, including our rural communities, will be connected.

We completed our reverse auction this summer. Eight Internet service providers have been selected to connect 266,000 homes. We have 40,000 to 60,000 more premises to connect. We are currently working on our last-mile strategy to make sure that everyone in Ontario has quick, easy and reliable access to high-speed Internet across the province.

How could a family quite possibly earn an income working from home or educate their child or reach their doctor at home without access?

We have 40,000 to 60,000 premises to go. We will not stop until every single one is connected.

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.