[Advisors] Openparliament.ca
James Van Leeuwen
jvl at ventus.ca
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:49:50 -0700
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They see the problem Darlene.
They just can't do anything about it.=20
I confer regularly with an associate who has consulted to the Government =
on rural broadband infrastructure.=20
If there is no opportunity for the private sector to profit from public =
investment in infrastructure, it doesn't get built.
Public-Private Partnership (P3) is the only game in town, but the =
business case for rural/remote infrastructure is too weak for the =
private sector to take seriously.=20
Unless they are at risk of a serious penalty for regulatory =
non-compliance.
Government lacks not only sufficient money for needed infrastructure =
investments, but expertise to properly structure and manage the =
investments.
This became strikingly clear during the last program for rural and =
northern broadband funding, which my consulting associate got to watch =
up close.
Industry has lots of money they could use for building rural =
infrastructure, but they want government to carry more than its fair =
share of risk.
Government can't afford to carry more than its fair share of risk, so =
nothing substantive happens.
We are offered only band-aids and fig leaves, and told reassuringly that =
these will more than suffice to meet our needs... despite ample proof to =
the contrary.
Lots of foreign investors would be willing to carry their fair share of =
risk, if they were allowed to control the infrastructure they were =
investing in.
This is how remote communities in Afghanistan ended up with better =
broadband than remote communities in Canada.
But foreign investors aren't allowed to control infrastructure in =
Canada, and the Canadian industry is determined to keep it that way.=20
The Government could do something about it, if they knew what they were =
doing.
But the Government doesn't know what it is doing.=20
It cannot even get reliable legal counsel, because industry keeps all of =
the country's top telecom lawyers on retainer (--> conflict of interest =
for the lawyers).
The upshot is that our Government is incapable of addressing our growing =
rural/remote infrastructure deficit.
Even if they sincerely want to - which I doubt - they cannot respond to =
the need.=20
If they ever deliver a credible digital strategy as promised, I already =
question their ability to implement it.=20
For the foreseeable future, the only way smaller communities in Canada =
will get the broadband infrastructure they need is if they take the =
initiative and build it themselves.=20
Like Eastern Ontario, Coquitlam, Olds, Stratford and other smaller =
communities have already done.
That said...
The Alberta SuperNet offers a sobering lesson in what can go wrong in a =
P3 when a government partner doesn't know what it is doing.
The best rural backbone infrastructure in the world is languishing, =
because there is no meaningful incentive for the principal private =
sector partner to leverage the network.
Government (foolishly) carried more than its fair share of risk, and the =
private partner has been collecting virtually all of the rewards.
These rewards have come at considerable financial expense to a second =
private partner, and at far greater expense in opportunities for rural =
Albertans.=20
The fundamental problem was that Government didn't understand the risks, =
and the private partner did.
The Government didn't know what it was doing, and this is what we must =
come to terms with right across Canada.
Stop looking to senior government, because they aren't up to the =
challenge.
We have to meet the challenge ourselves.=20
JvL
On 2013-02-10, at 12:10 PM, "Thompson, Darlene" <DThompson1@gov.nu.ca> =
wrote:
> Hi all,
>=20
> Its rather interesting. This week I am in a very remote community in =
Nunavut (Arctic Bay) enabling a project on E-Story Telling. Staying in =
the same hotel with me (actually the ONLY hotel in town) are two guys =
for the Department of National Defence. Both these guys had to do tours =
of duty in Afghanistan and they were saying that even in the most remote =
back-woods areas in that country, they had better internet speeds than =
we do in this community. AND THIS IS CANADA! When will our government =
see that there is just something wrong with this picture?
>=20
> D
>=20
> Darlene A. Thompson
> CAP Administrator
> N-CAP/Department of Education
> P.O. Box 1000, Station 910
> Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0
> Phone: (867) 975-5631
> Fax: (867) 975-5610
> dthompson@gov.nu.ca
> ________________________________________
> From: advisors-admin@tc.ca [advisors-admin@tc.ca] on behalf of Marita =
Moll [mmoll@ca.inter.net]
> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 7:47 PM
> To: TC Advisors
> Subject: [Advisors] Openparliament.ca
>=20
> openparliament.ca<http://openparliament.ca>
>=20
> This is a truly amazing site -- easy and fully searchable access to =
debates in the HofC. Try searching for "community access program" and =
see all the times this was brought up during and after the decision to =
kill the program and by whom and what was said. It certainly didn't die =
without a fight.
>=20
> There has been no mention of CAP for some time. I'm wondering how we =
might use the information available here to bring it back to the table. =
Anybody got some stories to report about the impact of the loss of the =
program that could be fed to a friendly local MP?
>=20
> Other ideas?
>=20
> Marita
>=20
>=20
> _______________________________________________
> Advisors mailing list
> Advisors@tc.ca
> http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/advisors
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charset=3Dus-ascii"></head><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; =
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; =
"><div>They see the problem Darlene.</div><div><br></div><div>They just =
can't do anything about it. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div>I =
confer regularly with an associate who has consulted to the Government =
on rural broadband infrastructure. <br><div><br></div><div>If there =
is no opportunity for the private sector to profit from public =
investment in infrastructure, it doesn't get =
built.</div><div><br></div><div>Public-Private Partnership (P3) is the =
only game in town, but the business case for rural/remote infrastructure =
is too weak for the private sector to take =
seriously. </div><div><br></div><div>Unless they are at risk of a =
serious penalty for regulatory =
non-compliance.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Government lacks =
not only sufficient money for needed infrastructure investments, but =
expertise to properly structure and manage the =
investments.</div><div><br></div><div>This became strikingly clear =
during the last program for rural and northern broadband funding, which =
my consulting associate got to watch up =
close.</div><div><br></div><div>Industry has <u>lots</u> of money they =
could use for building rural infrastructure, but they want government to =
carry more than its fair share of =
risk.</div><div><br></div><div>Government can't afford to carry more =
than its fair share of risk, so nothing substantive =
happens.</div><div><br></div><div>We are offered only band-aids and fig =
leaves, and told reassuringly that these will more than suffice to meet =
our needs... despite ample proof to the =
contrary.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Lots of foreign =
investors would be willing to carry their fair share of risk, if they =
were allowed to control the infrastructure they were investing =
in.</div><div><br></div><div>This is how remote communities in =
Afghanistan ended up with better broadband than remote communities in =
Canada.</div><div><br></div><div>But foreign investors aren't allowed to =
control infrastructure in Canada, and the Canadian industry is =
determined to keep it that way. </div><div><br></div><div>The =
Government could do something about it, if they knew what they were =
doing.</div><div><br></div><div>But the Government doesn't know what it =
is doing. </div><div><br></div><div>It cannot even get reliable =
legal counsel, because industry keeps all of the country's top telecom =
lawyers on retainer (--> conflict of interest for the =
lawyers).</div><div><br></div><div>The upshot is that our Government is =
<u>incapable</u> of addressing our growing rural/remote infrastructure =
deficit.</div><div><br></div><div>Even if they sincerely want to - which =
I doubt - they cannot respond to the =
need. </div><div><br></div><div>If they ever deliver a credible =
digital strategy as promised, I already question their ability to =
implement it. </div><div><br></div><div><div><br></div><div>For the =
foreseeable future, the <b><i>only</i></b> way smaller communities in =
Canada will get the broadband infrastructure they need is if they take =
the initiative and build it =
themselves. </div><div><br></div></div><div>Like Eastern Ontario, =
Coquitlam, Olds, Stratford and other smaller communities have already =
done.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>That =
said...</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>The Alberta SuperNet =
offers a sobering lesson in what can go wrong in a P3 when a government =
partner doesn't know what it is doing.</div><div><br></div><div>The best =
rural backbone infrastructure in the world is languishing, because =
there is no meaningful incentive for the principal private sector =
partner to leverage the network.</div><div><br></div><div>Government =
(foolishly) carried more than its fair share of risk, and the private =
partner has been collecting virtually all of the =
rewards.</div><div><br></div><div>These rewards have come at =
considerable financial expense to a second private partner, and at far =
greater expense in opportunities for rural =
Albertans. </div><div><br></div><div>The fundamental problem was =
that Government didn't understand the risks, and the private partner =
did.</div><div><br></div><div>The Government didn't know what it was =
doing, and this is what we must come to terms with right across =
Canada.</div><div><br></div><div>Stop looking to senior government, =
because they aren't up to the challenge.</div><div><br></div><div>We =
have to meet the challenge =
ourselves. </div><div><br></div><div>JvL</div><div><br></div><div><br=
></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div><br><div><di=
v>On 2013-02-10, at 12:10 PM, "Thompson, Darlene" <<a =
href=3D"mailto:DThompson1@gov.nu.ca">DThompson1@gov.nu.ca</a>> =
wrote:</div><br class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote =
type=3D"cite">Hi all,<br><br>Its rather interesting. This week I =
am in a very remote community in Nunavut (Arctic Bay) enabling a project =
on E-Story Telling. Staying in the same hotel with me (actually =
the ONLY hotel in town) are two guys for the Department of National =
Defence. Both these guys had to do tours of duty in Afghanistan =
and they were saying that even in the most remote back-woods areas in =
that country, they had better internet speeds than we do in this =
community. AND THIS IS CANADA! When will our government see =
that there is just something wrong with this =
picture?<br><br>D<br><br>Darlene A. Thompson<br>CAP =
Administrator<br>N-CAP/Department of Education<br>P.O. Box 1000, Station =
910<br>Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0<br>Phone: (867) 975-5631<br>Fax: =
(867) 975-5610<br><a =
href=3D"mailto:dthompson@gov.nu.ca">dthompson@gov.nu.ca</a><br>___________=
_____________________________<br>From: advisors-admin@tc.ca =
[advisors-admin@tc.ca] on behalf of Marita Moll =
[mmoll@ca.inter.net]<br>Sent: Friday, February 08, 2013 7:47 PM<br>To: =
TC Advisors<br>Subject: [Advisors] =
Openparliament.ca<br><br>openparliament.ca<http://openparliament.ca>=
<br><br>This is a truly amazing site -- easy and fully searchable access =
to debates in the HofC. Try searching for "community access =
program" and see all the times this was brought up during and after the =
decision to kill the program and by whom and what was said. It =
certainly didn't die without a fight.<br><br>There has been no mention =
of CAP for some time. I'm wondering how we might use the =
information available here to bring it back to the table. Anybody =
got some stories to report about the impact of the loss of the program =
that could be fed to a friendly local MP?<br><br>Other =
ideas?<br><br>Marita<br><br><br>__________________________________________=
_____<br>Advisors mailing =
list<br>Advisors@tc.ca<br>http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/advisors<=
br></blockquote></div><br></div></div></body></html>=
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