The funding will be doled out to 14 projects led by several organizations, including Advanced Interactive Canada, Arrow Technology Group, Siksika Nation and Yellowhead County
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Alberta and Ottawa are jointly investing $112 million to improve access to high-speed internet for more than 22,500 households across rural and Indigenous communities in Alberta.
Among those households 3,400 would be Indigenous, the ministries announced, and 1,356 would be located in Siksika Nation.
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The funding will be doled out to 14 projects led by several organizations, including Advanced Interactive Canada, Arrow Technology Group, Siksika Nation and Yellowhead County.
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“The installation projects are going to create even more jobs in all your communities,” said federal Minister of Rural Economic Development Gudie Hutchings at the news conference held in Siksika Nation.
“So for folks in rural and remote and Indigenous communities in Alberta, a dependable high-speed internet connection can be life-changing, better access to health care, to education, to help when you need it.”
The province’s digital economy — which includes health tech, cleantech and agtech — has grown by 30 per cent over the past four years. But the growth is largely limited to Edmonton and Calgary, stretching the divide between rural and urban Alberta, found a report by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC).
The investment, billed as a measure to close the gap, is part of Alberta’s broadband strategy, which committed $390 million over five years in 2022 to strengthen connectivity across rural areas — an investment matched by the federal government.
However, as the province’s 2024 budget shows, more than two-thirds of the promised investment was pushed into later years “with the goal to provide every Albertan access to reliable, high-speed internet by 2027.”
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When asked about the decision to delay the funding, Alberta Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish told the media, “It took us a little longer than we would have liked to get those the first few tranches of projects approved, funded and shovels in the ground.”
“And so as a result, money that we had originally anticipated, being going out the door a little bit earlier, is being pushed back a little bit farther into the later years of that commitment.”
Also, nearly $230 million was allocated to the strategy in the fiscal year 2023, but only $62 million was forecasted to be spent that year. The rest of the investment was spread out over the next two years. It was unclear whether Tuesday’s announcement was part of the $62 million set aside for 2023 or the $98 million allotted for the fiscal year of 2024.
The ministry didn’t respond to requests for clarification by Postmedia.
“Today’s announcement leaves the government far short of its target,” Alberta NDP critic for technology and innovation Court Ellingson said in a statement.
“This announced project won’t be complete until 2027 so, it is fair to say, that with only one-third of funding now deployed, the government will not reach 100 per cent coverage.”
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