Whether the Conservative government actually considered pulling funding from the Community Access Program is up for debate, but there can be little doubt where there’s smoke there’s fire when it comes to their intentions.
Earlier this week it was reported that Industry Canada had begun sending letters out to community organizations telling them that C@P sites within 25 kilometres of a public library would lose their funding. The net it cast was a huge one with schools, youth drop-in centres and community halls being told they would either have to find their own way of providing Internet service or discontinue something many rural Canadians have come to rely on since the program’s creation.
Considering the public response, it didn’t take federal Industry Minister Tony Clement long to reassure people that it will be business as usual for those institutions that have had Internet funding in the past. If the C@P program itself can’t provide funding, the minister assured those groups money would come from a newer strategy aimed at expanding broadband services in rural Canada.
When the previous Liberal government rolled out C@P in 1994 it wasn’t meant to be permanent. It was intended to connect rural communities to the World Wide Web with hopes that once Internet service was expanded to more households the reliance on government funding could be scaled back.
The fact is, government probably never realized how reliant communities and people have become on their C@P sites and they were probably caught off guard when there was a groundswell of opposition to any possible disruption.
Still, there's little doubt C@P sites are vulnerable. The minister now says funding will remain while the broadband program is still being rolled out. But it’s just as likely suggesting cutting the funding was a trial balloon floated by Industry Canada to gauge public reaction.
Now that the public has responded in support of these sites, it’s up to government to find a way not only to maintain them but also to enhance them so rural communities from one end of this country to the other can stay connected to the web.
