Question Period Note: CANADA-ALBERTA BROADBAND PARTNERSHIP

What are the details of the Canada-Alberta broadband partnership announced March 9, 2022?

• High-speed Internet access is essential for all Canadians.

• That is why the Government of Canada is investing in rural and remote Internet infrastructure – including $3.225 billion under the Universal Broadband Fund.

• The government is collaborating with Alberta to invest up to $780 million to provide high-speed Internet access to all underserved households in the province.

• The government is committed to providing access to 98% of Canadians by 2026. This can only be achieved through partnerships with other levels of government, the private sector, Indigenous groups, and other stakeholders.

The $3.225 billion Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) will help ensure that 98% of Canadians have access to high-speed Internet by 2026, and 100% by 2030. The UBF included a Rapid Response Stream for shovel-ready projects that could be completed quickly, $50 million for mobile projects that primarily benefit Indigenous peoples, and $750 million for large, high-impact projects.
The government has leveraged nearly $2 billion in provincial funding from broadband partnerships with Ontario, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, to connect even more households than with UBF funding alone.
The Government of Canada’s funding of up to $390 million for the Canada-Alberta broadband partnership comes from the UBF, and up to $390 million is being provided by Alberta.
Under this $780 million partnership targeting 200,000 households, 47 projects have been announced that will bring improved connectivity to over 32,000 households, including more than 6,000 Indigenous households.

Across all Government of Canada broadband programs since 2015, over $488 million in funding has been announced to improve connectivity across the province.

• The Canada-Alberta broadband partnership, announced on March 9, 2022, represents a plan to provide access to approximately 200,000 households in Alberta that do not have access to high-speed Internet.
• Today, 89.4% of households have access to high-speed Internet in Alberta, compared to 82.6% in 2017. Projections show that 97.7% of households in the province will have access by 2026.

• To date, the government has announced nearly $2.3 billion in funding under the Universal Broadband Fund to provide high-speed Internet access to more than 915,000 households.