Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, April 09, 2019 -

The lack of accessibility to high-speed Internet creates a rural-urban “digital divide”, despite substantial investments from the federal government to address this issue. Furthermore, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s (ISED) implementation of its Connect to Innovate funding program for broadband expansion was found to be deficient, according to a report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts presented today by the Honorable Kevin Sorenson, Chair of the Committee.

In the fall of 2018, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada released a performance audit that determined whether ISED and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), according to their respective roles and responsibilities, monitored the state of connectivity and developed and implemented a strategy to meet the connectivity needs of Canadians in rural and remote areas.

The audit found that, in addition to the lack of a national plan, small Internet service providers (ISPs) did not have sufficient access to high-quality spectrum to support broadband deployment in rural and remote areas, and that ISED auctioned spectrum licences for geographic areas that were too large for smaller ISPs to submit bids for. Also, the secondary market for unused spectrum did not function well, partly because licensees had little business incentive to make unused spectrum available for subordinate licensing.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee has made five recommendations to ensure that the federal government addresses these matters, to help bridge the digital divide between Canada’s large urban centres and its rural and remote areas.