Question Period Note: CANADA-ONTARIO BROADBAND PARTNERSHIP

What are the details of the Canada-Ontario broadband partnership announced on July 29, 2021?

• 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 Ontario to invest up to $1.2 billion to provide high-speed Internet access to more than 280,000 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 (RRS) 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’s funding of more than $600 million for the Canada-Ontario broadband partnership comes from the UBF. Ontario’s funding of $600 million is part of the province’s $4 billion commitment to provide access to high-speed Internet to all Ontarians by the end of 2025.
On August 4, 2022, the Government of Ontario announced the list of successful Internet Service Providers from their reverse auction and the communities to be connected. Ontario has also produced an interactive map so that residents can see the progress of high-speed deployment in their area.

Overall, under the UBF the Government of Canada has announced over $726 million in federal funding to bring high-speed to more than 315,000 households in Ontario, over 16,000 of which are Indigenous.
• Under the $1.2 billion partnership targeting 280,000 households, 56 projects have been announced to bring high-speed Internet access to over 232,000 households.

• Under the RRS, $76 million in federal funding has been announced for 115 RRS projects to bring improved connectivity to over 35,000 households.
Across all Government of Canada broadband programs since 2015, over $860 million in funding has been announced for connectivity projects in Ontario.

• The Canada-Ontario broadband partnership announced on July 29, 2021, will provide high-speed Internet access to approximately 280,000 households in Ontario.

• Today, 94.5% of households have access to high-speed Internet in Ontario, compared to 86.9% in 2017.

• To date, the government has announced over $2.4 billion in funding under the Universal Broadband Fund to provide high-speed Internet access to more than 924,000 households.