Digital Monopoly

Digital Monopoly

Two weeks ago, the federal government mentioned the delivery of a federal digital strategy as part of the throne speech.  While this might not get the attention of many Canadians this is an important marker and something we all need to pay attention and get vocal about.  The idea behind having a comprehensive and detailed digital strategy is the recognition that we are competing globally, not just in traditional raw goods, but also in terms of raw talent.

A Canadian digital strategy is one area where we can continue generate a large amount of employment for our northern and remote communities without the continuous drain of talent from these markets to Canada’s larger cities, or worst to other parts of the world.  We have the advantage today that our economy steadily continues to out pace the growth of both the US and world economies.  A strong digital strategy has been argued by many, and I happen to agree it is a vital link in our ability to incubate, grow and produce the talent we need as a nation to succeed.

If anyone doubts the impact of the investments in digital strategy like the investments in basic infrastructure such as those needed to deliver high speed internet access, need only look at New Brunswick which made huge investments during the early 1990s in telecommunications and computer science education.  To this day this strategy of digital infrastructure has laid a foundation that employs thousands in rural New Brunswick and has allowed many of their local economies to transition from traditional resource (fishing, logging and mining) to a more high tech economy with lower environmental and socio-economic foot prints. (SFU Research presentation, CBC article)

By getting our federal government to lay the basic fibre and communication links into our remote communities, we allow these communities to compete on a global scale.  More importantly we keep Canada diversified and our population employed within their local communities.  As someone who lost his home repeatedly while I was growing up due to fluctuations in the resource sector, I can say without a doubt that I understand the importance of keeping local communities strong and allowing them to keep their children close.

If you haven’t the heart to write your MP and wade in to the debate directly, consider joining one of the many incubator organizations that you may have locally.  In Vancouver we have the advantage of having a strong tech sector with many advocates such as the BCTIA and VEF.  Take the time to be heard on this issue, it might mean creating the very job that allows your child to stay close to home.

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Update 16:16 PST – Anyone who doubts we need to get moving on this the US has just announced a digital strategy that includes getting 100M US homes with access to 100Mbps download speeds.