High Speed Internet in Wellington – Speech
High Speed Internet
Ontario Hansard – 07-December2016
Mr. Ted Arnott: During my canvass of Wellington–Halton Hills in the 2014 general election, I met
thousands of people. I sought to answer their questions, listen to their concerns, and encourage their
aspirations.
One thing I heard is that many of my constituents do not have access to affordable, reliable high-speed
Internet. We know that in today’s economy, connectivity is an absolute necessity for households, farms
and businesses.
When the House resumed immediately following the election to consider again the government’s budget,
I tabled a resolution urging the government to develop a strategy to ensure that all Ontarians would have
access to affordable, reliable high-speed Internet and work with the Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus
and the federal government to achieve this goal with public-private partnerships.
Exactly 24 months passed. Then, this past July, the government announced a commitment to doing
precisely what we had urged them to do: setting aside $90 million, with an equal federal government
contribution, to support the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology Project, known as SWIFT.
While it sounded good, they didn’t announce a time frame for the launch or completion of the new and
improved Internet service, nor could they release a list of the 300 communities they claimed would
benefit from the program.
We all need to recognize the public interest in getting this done, working together to accomplish interim
objectives and prerequisites, and this includes the private sector partners.
I want to express my thanks to everyone involved with implementing this proposal, but let’s keep it
moving. The county of Wellington and the town of Halton Hills are very enthusiastic about expanding
access to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet. Let’s get behind our local communities, and let’s build
a fibre network throughout rural Ontario that gives every Ontarian access to high-speed, affordable,
reliable Internet service and all the benefits that technology entails.