Post Tagged with: "cap"

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before: Digital Economy Strategy Coming Later This Year

Industry Minister Christian Paradis spoke at the Canada 3.0 conference in Stratford yesterday, providing an update on the government’s digital economy plans. Paradis trumpeted some of the measures in the budget as well as the trio of related laws – privacy reform, copyright reform, and anti-spam legislation (which he indicated […]

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April 25, 2012 6 comments News

Cutting Community Internet Access Program Highlights Absence of Digital Strategy

The recent federal budget was a hefty 498 pages, but my weekly technology law column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version) notes it still omitted disclosing the decision to eliminate funding for the Community Access Program, Canada’s longstanding initiative to provide an Internet access alternative for those without connectivity. The world has changed dramatically since the CAP was first launched in 1995, but the decision to cut it without establishing alternative solutions for low-income Canadians who are not online is a disappointing development that highlights yet again the absence of a national digital strategy from Industry Minister Christian Paradis.

The CAP was once a foundational element in the federal government’s effort to connect Canadians. In the late 1990s, many did not have Internet access at home and wireless data plans were still years away. Today, the majority of Canadians have residential broadband access as well as wireless connectivity through their smartphones or other devices.

The decision to cut the CAP therefore does not come as a surprise.

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April 18, 2012 9 comments Columns

Cutting Community Internet Access Program Highlights Absence of Digital Strategy

Appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on April 17, 2012 as Canada Lacking Digital Strategy The recent federal budget was a hefty 498 pages, but it still omitted disclosing the decision to eliminate funding for the Community Access Program, Canada’s longstanding initiative to provide an Internet access alternative for those without […]

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April 17, 2012 1 comment Columns Archive

Government Cuts Funding For Community Access Program

The government has quietly notified Community Access Programs across the country that it is cutting funding for the longstanding program that provides Internet access to the public. Statistics Canada’s 2010 Canadian Internet Use Study found that 54% of low income Canadians still do not have Internet access at home. Industry […]

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April 9, 2012 6 comments News

Gov’t Reverses on CAP Cuts

Industry Minister Tony Clement has reversed on the cuts to the Community Access Program.  Clement told a press scrum this afternoon that it was a funding envelope misunderstanding.

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March 16, 2010 3 comments News