National Broadband Task Force

Last updated April 26, 2019

The National Broadband Task Force was an initiative of the Government of Canada whose mandate was established in 2001 by the Canadian Minister of Industry,^[1] at that time Brian Tobin.

The Government of Canada, officially Her Majesty's Government, is the federal administration of Canada. In Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council. In both senses, the current construct was established at Confederation through the Constitution Act, 1867—as a federal constitutional monarchy, wherein the Canadian Crown acts as the core, or "the most basic building block", of its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The Crown is thus the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government. Further elements of governance are outlined in the rest of the Canadian Constitution, which includes written statutes, court rulings, and unwritten conventions developed over centuries.

Brian Vincent Tobin, is a Canadian businessman and former politician. Tobin served as the sixth Premier of Newfoundland from 1996 to 2000. Tobin was also a prominent Member of Parliament and served as a Cabinet Minister in Jean Chrétien's Liberal government.

Mandate

The initiative sought "to map out a strategy for achieving the Government of Canada's goal of ensuring that broadband services are available to businesses and residents in every Canadian community by 2004."^[1]

Recommendations

The Task Force recommended four overall "priorities" for achieving basic broadband access by 2004:^[3]

Transport Link: "All communities should be linked to national broadband networks via a high-speed, high-capacity and scalable transport link."
First Nation, Inuit, Rural and Remote Communities: "The priority of the broadband deployment strategy should be to link all First Nation, Inuit, rural and remote communities to national broadband networks".
Public institutions: "The local broadband access infrastructure should be extended to the community's public facilities, including every public learning institution, public health care facility, public library and other designated public access points."
Connecting Businesses and Residences: "The local broadband access infrastructure should also be extended to local business and residential users, for example, by leveraging broadband infrastructure serving public facilities."

Membership

The membership of the National Broadband Task Force included web-linked members in Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador; Ottawa; Sioux Lookout, Ontario; and Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Clarenville is a town on the east coast of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Clarenville was incorporated in 1951 and is located in the Shoal Harbour valley fronting an arm of the Atlantic Ocean called Random Sound.

Newfoundland and Labrador is the most easterly province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it comprises the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador to the northwest, with a combined area of 405,212 square kilometres (156,500 sq mi). In 2018, the province's population was estimated at 525,073. About 92% of the province's population lives on the island of Newfoundland, of whom more than half live on the Avalon Peninsula.

Ottawa Federal capital city in Ontario, Canada

Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It stands on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec; the two form the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area (CMA) and the National Capital Region (NCR). As of 2016, Ottawa had a city population of 964,743 and a metropolitan population of 1,323,783 making it the fourth-largest city and the fifth-largest CMA in Canada.

Chair

David Lloyd Johnston, President, University of Waterloo

The University of Waterloo is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on 404 hectares of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university offers academic programs administered by six faculties and ten faculty-based schools. The university also operates three satellite campuses and four affiliated university colleges. Waterloo is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada. The University of Waterloo is most famous for its cooperative education (co-op) programs, which allow the students to integrate their education with applicable work experiences. The university operates the largest post-secondary co-operative education program in the world, with over 20, 000 undergraduate students in over 140 co-operative education programs.

Members

Vic Allen, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-Chair, Upper Canada Networks (UCNet)

Louis Audet, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cogeco Inc.

Kathy Baldwin, Superintendent, School District 14, 15 and 16, Miramichi, New Brunswick

Brian Beaton, Co-ordinator, K-Net Services, Keewaytinook Okimakanak in Sioux Lookout, Ontario

Andrew Bjerring, President and Chief Executive Officer, CANARIE Inc.

Larry Boisvert, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telesat Canada

Pierre Bouchard, President and Chief Executive Officer, RISQ Inc., Quebec Scientific Information Network

Donald Ching, President and Chief Executive Officer, SaskTel

Hubert de Pesquidoux, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alcatel Canada

Denis Dionne, President, Montreal Technovision Inc.

Darren Entwistle, President and Chief Executive Officer, Telus

Adamee Itorcheak, President, Nunanet Worldwide Communications

John Kelly, Principal, Reid Eddison Inc.

Philippa Lawson, Counsel, Public Interest Advocacy Centre

William Linton, President and Chief Executive Officer, Call-Net Enterprises Inc.

Mary Macdonald, President, Macdonald and Associates Ltd.

Michael MacMillan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc.

John McLennan, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Canada

David Marshall, Vice-Chairman, Electronic Commerce, Technology and Operations, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)

Gerry Miller, Executive Director, Information Services and Technology, University of Manitoba

Wendy Newman, Chief Executive Officer, Brantford Public Library

Brendan Paddick, President, Regional Cablesystems Inc.

Michael Sabia, President, BCE Inc. and Vice Chairman, Corporate, Bell Canada

Jim Shaw, Chief Executive Officer, Shaw Communications Inc.

Gerri Sinclair, President and Chief Executive Officer, NCompass Labs

Charles Sirois, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Telesystem Ltd.

Carol Stephenson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Lucent Technologies Canada Corp.

Allister Surette, President and Chief Executive Officer, Collège de l'Acadie

John Tory, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rogers Cable Inc.

Pamela Walsh, President, College of the North Atlantic

Dr. Mamoru Watanabe, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Calgary

John Wetmore, Vice President, IBM.com, Americas

Stephen Wetmore, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aliant Inc.

Participating Associations

Canadian Association of Broadcasters

Canadian Association of Internet Providers

Canadian Cable Television Association

Canadian School Board Association

Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association

CATA Alliance

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Information Technology Association of Canada

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References

External links

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[Broadband_-_The_Program-1] 1 2 Broadband - The Program

[2] The Brantford Public Library - Library Headlines, 2001

[3] Broadband - The Program