Invest in Cities Too

Need to carefully balance investment in clusters with investment in rural. We don't need a Harrison Bergeron digital policy. Establish reasonable goals for minimums of connectivity across Canada but concentrate investment where it will yield the greatest returns for all Canadians. It may be politically fashionable to make great fanfare of announcing new digital clusters in the midst of farmers fields. However we already have vibrant digital clusters in the hearts of Canadian cities and these should be invested in too. There are good reasons for future–minded Canadians to live in cities, cities are green, cities can be digitally connected at higher speeds and vastly lower cost than rural areas.

By all means let's connect up rural communities. But invest in cities too.

Suggestion: let communities self–select for investment.

The suggestion is this, set up programs and investment assistance eligible to communities or municipalities who are electing to build out their own locally–managed high speed networks (e.g. municipal fibre or wireless projects).