$55 Million Investment To Connect 11,000 Households In New Brunswick

Rural communities throughout the province to benefit from increased connectivity to high-speed Internet

Today, the Honourable Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development, together with René Arseneault, Member of Parliament for Madawaska–Restigouche, announced $55 million in funding for Rogers and Xplornet to bring high-speed Internet to nearly 11,000 households in several rural, remote and Indigenous communities across New Brunswick. Project details will be announced over the coming months.

Today’s announcement builds on the Government of Canada’s progress toward making sure that 98% of Canadians have access to high-speed Internet by 2026. As we work to rebuild from the pandemic, the Government of Canada will continue to make investments in infrastructure to build strong communities and a more competitive and resilient Canada for everyone.

“We need to close the connectivity gap and ensure that every nook and cranny of New Brunswick has access to reliable high-speed Internet. Today’s announcement of $55 million in new federal funding to connect nearly 11,000 households in rural communities throughout the province is a milestone for New Brunswickers. Investments like these from the federal government and the private sector are helping to create jobs, improve access to health care and online learning services, and keep us connected to our loved ones. The Government of Canada will continue to make investments like these to help achieve our national target of connecting 98% of Canadians by 2026 and 100% by 2030.”
– The Honourable Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development

Canada’s Connectivity Strategy aims to provide all Canadians with access to Internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download / 10 Mbps upload. With the establishment of the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), a $2.75 billion investment by the Government of Canada designed to help connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% connectivity by 2030. To date, the Government of Canada has already invested more than $43 million in New Brunswick to connect over 10,000 homes throughout the province.

The UBF is part of a suite of federal investments to improve high-speed Internet. Since 2015, Government of Canada funding has supported projects to bring improved Internet speeds to over 1.2 million households in rural and remote communities across Canada.