‘Rural and remote connectivity is both the biggest gap and the biggest opportunity’

Jacquie LaRocque, CEO of Compass Rose, rural Canada advocate and registered lobbyist for Rural Prosperity Group, spoke to The Hill Times recently.

See her comments below.

Compass Rose, through its work on rural prosperity over the past two years, is calling for measures that reflect the realities and needs of rural Canada.

While various trade organizations advocate on specific issues like telecommunications and connectivity, the Rural Prosperity Group (RPG) has been working to advance the overarching goal that a rural lens must be applied by governments on all public and regulatory policy decisions. The telecom file, with all its nuances, is one that would greatly benefit from that lens.

ectivity is both the biggest gap and the biggest opportunity.  On one hand, access remains unreliable or unavailable in far too many regions still and, with rural Canada playing such a central role in our economic and trade goals, that means we are leaving far too much on the table. There is also an urgent opportunity to strengthen local communities and economies; increase farming, energy and other sector outputs; and bring health care, education and other essential services right into Canadians’ homes. 

As one respondent said in an RPG survey, “Online learning is increasingly becoming a viable option to improve education and rural communities need to become better educated so that we can attract better and more complex industries and be more productive.” 

In this context, and especially in telecommunications, we urge policymakers to consider what the industry needs in order to connect more Canadians and to deliver more Canadian goods and services to the world. For example, the cost to expand connectivity is billions of dollars, and it's the government’s job to make the investment environment conducive to additional private-sector investment. Industry and government share the same goal and need to meaningfully talk to each other. 

It’s easy to say we need more competition but such levers hold heavy nuances —  the rural lens would go a long way in understanding what the ultimate outcomes will be and whether they actually work for Canadians. 

The rural lens - let’s not overthink it:

We were heartened to hear Secretary of State (Rural Development) Buckley Belanger say he supports the idea of a rural lens. At the same time, we urge him, Prime Minister Carney and officials inside the system not to overthink it. Proven and nimble avenues already exist for incorporating a rural lens. The government already has low-administration tools at its disposal: the inclusion of a rural-specific component in for-decision memorandums; Treasury Board’s impact analysis; and even adapting other existing impact assessments. Integrating concise rural-specific sections into Memorandums to Cabinet (MCs) effectively compels the government to prioritize rural-led approaches over urban-centric ones. By fostering a rural-first perspective in policy-making, we can mitigate unforeseen negative outcomes and prevent future questioning of policy failures.

The world right now and tomorrow needs rural Canada.

On whether the government is listening on rural:

For years, the Liberal Party has always talked about rural Canada but has not made it as high a priority as it could have. 

The government’s own economic ambitions have put rural regions front and centre, playing a lead role on energy exports, AI data centres and food security among many other. We have a former banker as a Prime Minister who I believe is able to recognize that Bay Street can’t succeed unless Main Street in rural Canada does. Certainly, Canadians will be watching in the lead-up to the next election and ultimately at the ballot box. 

The government launched a consultation to develop a strategy for rural Canada. Again, we need to see what comes of it - timing is of the essence.

On whether it is listening on telecom specifically: 

The government notes in its response to the Public Accounts Committee’s study on Connectivity in Rural and Remote Areas, it has invested $3.2 billion in the Universal Broadband Fund since 2020.

The government has made progress on investments in broadband to reach its goal of making high-speed Internet available to 100 per cent of Canadians by 2030. While Canada has reached 97.1 per cent of broadband connectivity, rural communities are at 86.1 per cent. In the territories, it is even lower at 69.6 per cent and on First Nations Reserves, it's at 69.3 per cent. Just eight years ago, in 2018, rural connectivity stood at 40.7 per cent.

The CRTC launched a public consultation earlier this spring on collecting data around coverage gaps, so people will be looking for what comes out of that. 

Again, what does all this talk of competition mean for Main Street? A rural lens would give the answer and I am not sure it is the one we think. But it’s worth considering for that reason alone.