Chair Henry welcomes Government of Canada’s significant broadband investment

Whitby, Ontario – Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The following statement is being issued on behalf of John Henry, Regional Chair and Chief Executive Officer for The Regional Municipality of Durham:

“Last week I welcomed the Ontario government’s $1 billion investment over six years to improve and expand broadband and cellular access across the province.

This week, I am happy to see yet another major commitment to broadband, this time from our federal partners: Government of Canada.

Broadband access is a vital piece of infrastructure that is essential for communication, education, and the economic competitiveness of our residents, businesses and institutions.

With the announcement of the $1.75 billion Universal Broadband Fund, we look forward to working with the federal government to secure funding for our broadband efforts here in Durham.

The Region is taking an active role in ensuring our underserved residents and businesses have access to broadband in the future.

We have already applied to the provincial Improving Connectivity for Ontario (ICON) program for funding to deploy fibre to our rural communities, and with the alignment between these provincial and federal programs, we hope to access the support needed to significantly improve broadband coverage in Durham.

Funding will allow us to create meaningful partnerships and focus on the communities with the greatest need for broadband support, such as our rural areas.

These investments show how valuable our partnerships with the provincial and federal governments are. It’s with continued investments such as these that we can realize our vision of connecting our entire region with fast and reliable broadband.”

– 30 –