Media Updates

Broadband Task Force

By Leslie Regan Shade
October 21 2005

The National Broadband Task Force (NBTF) was established by the minister of Industry Canada, Brian Tobin, in the fall of 2000. The mandate of the NBTF was to examine “the best approaches to make high-speed broadband Internet services available to businesses and residents in all Canadian communities by the year 2004” (see http://broadband.gc.ca). Three rationales for the task force were provided: (1) to ensure Canadian competitiveness in a global economy, (2) to address the digital divide, and (3) to create “opportunities for all Canadians.”

David Johnston, who also headed Canada’s Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC), was named to lead the 35-member task force. The task force included 22 members with clear corporate connections to the communications industry (including Nortel, Alcatel, Lucent, IBM, Rogers, and Bell). Only five members were clearly identified with broad public-interest issues such as universal access and privacy. NBTF deliberations were closed to the public, although submissions could be made and were posted online at the NBTF website. However, only 34 submissions were made, and most of them championed the deployment of broadband services, particularly for remote and rural communities (see http://broadband.gc.ca/pub/program/NBTF/appendix_c.html).

Media coverage of the NBTF was light, although one opinion piece in The Ottawa Citizen provided a critical perspective on both the composition of the taskforce and its definition of access (see
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/index.cfm?act=news&do=Article&call=583&pA=F4FB3E9D&type=1).

The NBTF released its report in June 2001 with a press conference in Ottawa that featured a live satellite link to Iqaluit communities, webcasts, and Minister Tobin beamed in from Clarenville, Newfoundland (see http://wwwcan.activate.net/telav/industrycanada/010618/en/index.htm). The task force recommended the deployment of a national broadband network, at a cost of between $1.85 billion and $4.5 billion (Cdn). Emphasis was put on connecting rural and remote communities and Aboriginal settlements, with priority given to providing service to health facilities, libraries, schools, and other public institutions (NBTF, June 2001). Surprisingly, media coverage was lukewarm in its reception—perhaps in reaction to recent dot.com slumps—and it criticized both the necessity and the cost of deploying broadband. Instead, more attention was paid to NBTF recommendations to review foreign investment rules with a view to easing federal regulatory measures so as to ensure participation in the project.

In October 2001 it was reported that Tobin was seeking $1.5 billion for the broadband project (Scoffield, October 13, 2001), amid criticism of the project’s frivolity because of heightened security concerns in the wake of the September 11 events in New York and Washington, D.C. It was later reported (Scoffield, November 28) that allocated monies in the forthcoming budget would fall far short of the amount Tobin had originally requested. The 2001 budget (announced December 10) allocated $110 million to a scaled-down “innovation agenda,” with funds directed to the building of a kind of super-Internet for schools, universities, and medical researchers.

There are two program supporting broadband in Canada: the BRAND (Broadband for Rural and Northern Development Pilot Program), and the National Satellite Initiative. BRAND provides funds to deploy broadband to First Nations, northern and rural communities, particularly in the areas of health and education. There have been two rounds of funding. The first phase provided business plan development funding. A total of $4.2M was invested in the development of business plans, serving 154 projects. Under the phase for implementation funds, 58 projects negotiates funding agreements with Industry Canada for broadband services to their communities for a total investment of $79-million. (See http://broadband.gc.ca/pub/program/about.html).

The National Satellite Initiative (NSI) was initiated in October 2003 by Industry Canada, Infrastructure Canada, and the Canadian Space Agency. Its goals are to create affordable satellite capacity for broadband services including tele-health and tele-education to mid-north and isolated and remote communities. (See http://broadband.gc.ca/pub/program/nsi/aboutus.html).

References
National Broadband Task Force. (2001). The New National Dream: Networking the Nation for Broadband Access. URL: http://broadband.gc.ca/Broadband-document/english/table_content.htm

Scoffield, Heather. (November 28, 2001). “Tobin’s Plan Loses in Budget.” The Globe and Mail: A1.

Scoffield, Heather. (October 13, 2001). “Tobin to Seek $1.5-billion for Net.” The Globe and Mail: A16.