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 has made billions of dollars available for rural and remote Internet infrastructure – including $3.225 billion under the Universal Broadband Fund.

• The government is proud to collaborate 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 Canada-Ontario broadband partnership announced on July 29, 2022, will provide high-speed Internet access to approximately 280,000 households in Ontario that do not currently have access to 50/10 Mbps Internet service. Projects selected under this agreement have begun to be announced and can be viewed on the UBF website.
• The Government of Canada is working hard with all provinces and territories to ensure that projects are announced across the country in the coming months.

• To date, the Universal Broadband Fund has announced more than $2 billion in funding to provide access to more than 900,000 households and more announcements are coming soon.

The $3.225 billion Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) will help ensure that 98% of Canadians will have access to high-speed Internet by 2026, and 100% by 2030. The UBF includes a Rapid Response Stream for shovel-ready projects that can be completed quickly, $50 million for mobile projects that primarily benefit Indigenous peoples, and $750 million for large, high-impact projects.
In addition to Ontario, the Government of Canada has announced other federal-provincial broadband partnerships with Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.
The Government of Canada’s funding of more than $600 million for the Canada-Ontario broadband partnership comes from the Universal Broadband Fund, and 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.
Complementary to the Canada-Ontario broadband partnership, Ontario finalized the results of their reverse auction, which allowed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to bid for provincial subsidies to provide defined geographic areas access to high-speed Internet. The Government of Ontario announced the list of successful ISPs as well as the communities to be connected on August 4, 2022. The Government of Canada has worked closely with the Ontario to ensure recent funding decisions are coordinated with their decisions on the reverse auction.
Under the Rapid Response Stream (RRS) of the UBF, $75.5 million in UBF funding has been announced to cover over 38,400 households in Ontario with improved Internet access.
Across all Government of Canada broadband programs since 2015, over $849 million in funding has been announced for connectivity projects in Ontario.