The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit

Speaking Points

The Honourable Christian Paradis, PC, MP
Minister of Industry

Toronto, Ontario
May 31, 2011

Check Against Delivery

Thank you and good afternoon, everyone.

It is my pleasure to join you here at the Canadian Telecom Summit for the first time.

This is a great opportunity to meet you and gain an immediate appreciation of your priorities and issues first-hand.

It is also my first event as Minister of Industry, so thank you for the invitation.

Since being appointed by Prime Minister Harper almost two weeks ago, I have been familiarizing myself with the Industry Portfolio's full range of activities and key policy files.

And I must say, I am excited to work with you on advancing the telecommunications file and the digital economy as a whole.

While the recent election put a small speed bump in our agenda, we are getting back on track.

Our government is focused on what matters to Canadians—the economy and jobs. Our continued economic growth shows Canada's Economic Action Plan is working and we are on the right track for Canadian families and consumers.

Canada's economy has now grown for seven straight quarters, with nearly 540,000 new jobs created since July 2009. While that's positive news, too many Canadians are still looking for work and the global economic recovery remains fragile.

We need to stay the course with our prudent, low-tax plan to protect the economy and create jobs, and continue to focus on strengthening and growing Canada's telecommunication industry.

The importance of the telecom and ICT industries to our economy is pretty clear-cut.

In reviewing our progress to date, I am impressed with the strong collaboration between government and the people in this room.

Without you, I am certain our vision for the future would not be as well defined.

Our government considers a digital economy strategy to be one of its most important objectives.

In fact, it was something we campaigned on during the election.

And so, as one of my first priorities, I am focused on sustaining the momentum.

To do this, I am going to need your help.

As the foundation of our digital economy, it all starts with you—the telecommunications industry.

From equipment manufacturers to service providers and from industry associations to consultants, you play an essential role.

Encouraging Investment in Telecom

While governments have a role to play in encouraging telecom investment, much of this will be—and should be—shouldered by those in the private sector, responding to customer demands.

What government must do is foster an environment that inspires the private sector to invest and grow.

That means having a predictable regulatory framework that ensures an appropriate balance between competition and investment.

One that encourages innovation and creativity and promotes the growth of successful telecom companies.

Our regulatory framework has done that.

Our government has opened the door to greater competition by setting aside advanced wireless spectrum, opening the airwaves to new entrants such as Public Mobile, Mobilicity, Videotron and Globalive.

The result is clear for all to see: lower-priced services and greater choice for consumers.

Our reliance on market forces to build infrastructure is paying off.

With investments of over $8 billion a year in networks by telecom carriers, 82 percent of households now have access to speeds of 5 megabits per second or faster and 30 percent have access to speeds above 50 megabits per second—an impressive achievement.

By 2015, 75 percent of households in Canada will have access to 50 megabits per second or faster, based on the capital plans of the largest carriers.

What's more, leading wireless operators like Rogers, Bell and Telus are upgrading their networks to provide the fastest mobile data speeds commercially available in North America—an important Canadian advantage.

Increasingly, Canadian businesses and consumers are demanding access to mobile broadband.

To ensure that additional spectrum is available to meet the needs of emerging broadband services and to fuel the growth of next-generation wireless, I can confirm that the government will be auctioning off 700 megahertz spectrum and 2,500 megahertz spectrum.

On that note, we have now concluded our consultations on policy issues, band structure and spectrum requirements for these bands.

This will be followed by consultations on auction design and conditions of licence, which will begin later this year.

As part of an integrated regulatory approach to the spectrum auction, we continue to examine tower sharing and roaming and foreign investment.

On tower sharing and roaming, we introduced a policy to support competition and reduce the proliferation of cell towers.

As you know, we are now reviewing that policy to see whether changes are needed.

Foreign ownership, meanwhile, remains an important piece of this puzzle, and one that I am personally committed to getting right.

As we have demonstrated since coming to office, the policy of our government has always been to favour more competition and ensure that Canadians have access to quality services in a competitive marketplace that gives them good choices.

New entrants mean more competition, which can lead to lower prices and better quality services for Canadian consumers.

Of course, the 700 and 2,500 frequencies will not meet all demands. That is why my officials are also exploring what other frequencies can be made available over the next few years.

But a world-class infrastructure isn't only about speed, it's also about availability.

As you know, a rural-urban gap continues to exist in this country, and that is why we have been working hard to provide all Canadians with broadband access.

We are certainly well on our way.

As the CRTC noted earlier this month, 95 percent of households have broadband access.

That's largely thanks to you—the telecom industry—and the investments you have made in keeping your infrastructure abreast of the incredible pace of technological change.

And I was pleased to join Prime Minister Harper in announcing the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians Program, as part of the Economic Action Plan, back in 2009.

Our government committed $225 million to expand broadband access. And it is working.

I have seen first-hand in my riding the progress being made to equip rural households with high-speed Internet.

They are among the more than 210,000 households that will benefit from our federal investment, bringing broadband penetration to 98 percent by the time the program is completed next spring.

So that's the first foundational piece of the digital economy: creating the right environment that encourages competition and investment in infrastructure, including bridging the urban-rural divide.

But what about the other pieces of the puzzle?

If you will indulge me, I'd like to briefly discuss the other components of our digital economy strategy.

Encouraging Adoption

Infrastructure goes hand in hand with adoption. Canadian businesses—large and small and across all sectors—have to continuously adopt technology to become more productive, innovative and competitive. In short, increasing adoption of digital technology should be a primary goal of our digital economy strategy.

One of the ways is through targeting small and medium-sized businesses.

We will continue supporting the Business Development Bank of Canada's efforts in emphasizing ICT adoption among small and medium-sized enterprises.

In the Next Phase of Canada's Economic Action Plan (Budget 2011), we proposed a pilot program involving the NRC and Canadian colleges to promote the take-up of advanced technologies among small businesses.

Apart from funding commitments, the other key role for government here is to provide a legislative framework for electronic commerce transactions.

I know that Minister Clement worked hard to get the anti-spam legislation passed in December. But we still have to seal the deal by enacting the regulations.

As you recall, Canada's anti-spam legislation became the law last year, which protects Canadian businesses and consumers from the most harmful and misleading forms of online threats.

I can confirm that our government will also reintroduce and pass the Copyright Modernization Act—a key pillar in our commitment to make Canada a leader in the global digital economy. Our government will keep its commitments to support content creators and users and privacy law amendments to increase the security of online transactions.

And finally, a working group involving the provinces and territories is developing an online inventory of Canadian ICT adoption programs.

The group will report back to ministers in the fall on the barriers to adoption and how to overcome them.

A Skilled Workforce

To ensure our investments and adoption efforts are fully executed, a digitally skilled workforce is paramount.

It's all about who is going to develop and use these new technologies. And that is why our government proposed in the Next Phase of Canada's Economic Action Plan to reallocate $60 million over three years from existing programs to increase digital skills and to promote careers in the digital economy.

We also proposed investing $80 million in new funding over three years through the Industrial Research Assistance Program to help small and medium-sized businesses accelerate their adoption of key ICTs through collaborative projects with colleges.

And we continue to encourage skills certification by proposing that all occupational, trade and professional examination fees be eligible for tax relief.

It's a necessary realignment, as a skilled workforce will also help attract foreign investment to Canada, creating jobs and opportunities for Canadians.

Growing the ICT Sector

Next, the ICT sector in Canada must grow.

Canada needs more success stories, like global giants Open Text and RIM, and more up-and-comers, like Sierra Wireless and Polar Mobile.

You may notice that all four of these companies have something in common: They all rely on the kind of leading-edge infrastructure I mentioned earlier to enable their products and services.

And to breed more telecom success stories, our government has initiated a number of measures.

On that note, I am looking forward to hearing from Tom Jenkins, Chair of the R&D Review Panel, which has received more than 330 submissions in response to its consultation paper.

The end goal is to maximize our government's returns on business-focused R&D investments.

I am expecting the Panel's findings to have some significant implications for the ICT sector given its R&D intensity.

You can expect to hear more about this in the fall.

Complementing this panel review, our government has taken other steps to grow the sector.

For example, we have increased investments in venture capital and made changes to the Income Tax Act to encourage more foreign venture capital to make its way to Canadian companies.

And we have lowered corporate tax rates, creating a competitive advantage for Canadian firms, while attracting new job-creating investment to Canada.

We also heard from the public consultations on the digital economy strategy that Canadians wanted open data to be made available in more usable and accessible formats.

That is why our government launched the Open Data Portal that will ensure that all Canadians, including entrepreneurs, researchers, academics and voluntary organizations, have access to government data in useful formats to help foster innovation, job creation and community services for Canadians.

We also proposed in Budget 2011 to review the regulatory framework that governs Export Development Canada's role in the domestic financing market.

We want to ensure it maintains its capacity as a key vehicle to grow—and attract—more companies through financial assistance for R&D and commercialization.

Creating Content

Finally, we want to help ensure consumers can access Canadian digital content anytime, anywhere and on the platform of their choice.

Content drives demand for devices and bandwidth and will help attract both investment and talent.

That is the reason our national digital strategy needs strong content.

Whether it's music, television, books and periodicals or the latest applications for Internet, wireless and other emerging platforms, our government recognizes the competitive edge that Canadian content creates. And we have already taken some important steps to ensure this content is available everywhere.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, for example, has revamped a suite of digital media and content programs.

The Canada Media Fund is a great example—our most recent budget had committed $100 million to the Fund.

Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen, these elements of our digital economy strategy have one thing in common. They are going to take a lot of work, good will and cooperation between the public and private sectors to succeed.

I sincerely want to hear from you as we build out our strategy into the economy.

And I look forward to working with your industry as we implement it to the benefit of all Canadians.

Believe me, I am committed to moving the yardstick downfield.

And I want you to know that, no matter where I am, I tell it like it is. I'll be frank with you not only about the opportunities that exist, but the obstacles in our way.

It's my job to ensure Canada and Canadians get the maximum benefit from our investments in ICTs and telecom.

And I can assure you that our government is committed to the digital economy because we know the benefits it can bring to Canadians.

For the past five years, we have worked hard to create an environment in which the digital economy and telecom industry will flourish.

Canadian businesses and workers can compete with the best in the world, confident that our government will continue Prime Minister Harper's low-tax plan to protect and create jobs and open new markets for our families and businesses.

Let's keep this up, to spread the benefits of technology across our country.

Preparing our people and our businesses to build a digital economy that will be the benchmark for the world.

Thank you.