Speaking up for affordable Internet for all Canadians

We delivered feedback from over 40,000 people to the CRTC, calling for action to ensure 100% of Canadians have affordable, high-speed Internet access 

Every Canadian, regardless of where they live or their income level, should have a basic, affordable option for broadband Internet. That’s the clear message that OpenMedia is delivering today to the CRTC, on the final day of 3 weeks of hearings into how all Canadians can participate meaningfully in the digital economy. CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais has said these hearings “may very well be the last best chance to get it right.”

OpenMedia crowdsourced priorities from over 40,000 Canadians, and worked with experts to turn those priorities into a thorough and achievable action plan. According to CRTC statistics, nearly 1 in 5 Canadian households do not have broadband service, with that number jumping to over 2 in 5 of our lowest-income households.

This is a crucial moment for the CRTC, and a crucial moment for Canada. It’s the year 2016, and yet hundreds of thousands of Canadian children are growing up in homes without Internet. Millions more Canadians are being left on the wrong side of the digital divide. That’s got to change.

For too long, we’ve relied on market forces and price-gouging telecom giants to address these problems. That approach simply hasn’t worked. That’s why we’re asking the CRTC to listen to Canadians and embrace the practical ideas put forward by ourselves and many others, to ensure everyone can benefit from affordable, high-quality Internet.

This morning’s presentation by OpenMedia was jointly delivered by digital rights specialist Laura Tribe, consultant Dr David Ellis and myself, campaigns director. The presentation is available in full here, and key proposals include:

• Mandating broadband access to the Internet as a basic service to ensure nobody is left behind, and to motivate the industry to do better.

• The creation of a basic, affordable Internet package available to all Canadians across all providers with minimum service quality guarantees.

• Setting an ambitious speed target of 25/15 Mbps or more for 2020 to ensure Canada keeps pace with its industrialized global counterparts.

Over 43,000 Canadians are calling on the CRTC to ensure affordable, world-class broadband for all at UnblockCanada.ca