New rural development minister to tackle broadband availability

After the auditor general blasted the government for not having a clear plan to deal with the deployment of rural broadband, the Liberal government on Monday created a ministry to deal with the matter. Rookie Liberal MP Bernadette Jordan, who comes from a large rural riding of South Shore -- St. Margarets, was sworn in at Rideau Hall on Monday morning as minister for the newly created ministry of rural economic development, which will be administered by Infrastructure Canada. She is the first woman representing a riding in Nova Scotia to hold a cabinet position. The post will mean that Jordan’s office will “take action to bring high-speed internet to more rural households and businesses, and work with municipalities, provinces, territories, and indigenous partners to meet the unique and diverse infrastructure needs of rural communities,” a release from the prime minister’s office (PMO) said. Addressing media questions, she noted, according to a transcript, that she’s “really looking forward” to advancing the issues of a “lack of strong broadband and internet” specifically. “We’ve seen challenges with rural broadband and cellphone coverage across the country,” she added. Matt Pascuzzo, press secretary for the PMO said in an emailed statement that Jordan will be supported by ISED when asked how the mandate of both ministries would conflict or overlap. ISED has pledged $500 million by 2021 to bring high-speed internet to 300 rural and remote communities, through its Connect to Innovate program. The CRTC has its own five-year, $750 million fund for rural broadband. Trudeau told media following the shuffle that Jordan is an “extraordinary leader” and has “consistently delivered on everything we’ve asked of her” as parliamentary secretary to the minister of democratic institutions Scott Brison, who resigned last week. Minister of indigenous services Jane Philpott will replace Brison. “When our team travels across the country visiting communities big and small we hear all the time that the challenges facing rural and urban Canadians are very, very different,” Trudeau told media, according to a transcript. “Access to reliable high speed internet, driving distance to the closest childcare centre, pulling together funding for infrastructure projects – these things might not be top of mind if you live in a city of a million people but they can be a daily struggle in a town of five hundred.” In November, Canada’s auditor general Michael Ferguson released a scathing report saying there’s a lack of a national broadband strategy that has inhibited rural broadband development in the country and said its CTI program suffers from design flaws. In his fall economic update, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced an initiative that will allow telecoms to more quickly write-off, for tax purposes, investments in broadband infrastructure. As part of the cabinet shuffle, ISED’s parliamentary secretary David Lametti was promoted to minister of justice and attorney general. He served as parliamentary secretary under the international trade minister from 2015 and for ISED from 2017 until he replaced Jody Wilson-Raybould, who is now veterans affairs minister, on Monday. David Lametti is flanked by PM Justin Trudeau and governor general Julie Payette during a cabinet shuffle on Jan 14, 2019. / Photo by Andrew Meade. Lametti, who hails from Montreal and is MP for LaSalle— Émard — Verdun, was on leave from McGill University where he was an IP and property law professor. He has studied at the University of Toronto, McGill University, Yale Law School, and Oxford University, according to the PMO website. He was also a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada. Danielle Keenan, press secretary for ISED, said in an emailed statement a new parliamentary secretary will be named in the “near future.” On Twitter, Lametti said he is “extremely touched and honored by the confidence” that Trudeau put in him with the appointment. “The challenges are different when you’re a law professor and when you’re an MP,” he told media, according to a transcript. “I’ve already begun to live that over the past three years and, as a Cabinet Minister, I guess will take it to the next level.” — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

New rural development minister to tackle broadband availability

News | January 14, 2019

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New rural development minister to tackle broadband availability

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