Rural internet subsidy program nearing goal

For the better part of seven years, crews have been plowing internet cables into rural side roads that it would not have been possible to reach without government subsidies.

“For the entirety of southwestern Ontario, in another three to five years, it’s gone from 26 per cent have-nots, to zero households. It’ll actually never reach zero, but it’ll be darn close,” said former Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh deputy mayor, Roger Watt, and Huron County’s representative on the SWIFT board.

Huron-Bruce MPP, Lisa Thompson was in the community of Gorrie, Ont. on Friday to announce the latest investment by the South Western Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) Group, to bring high-speed internet to an additional 1,570 rural homes — even though Thompson herself is without broadband internet, where she lives near Teeswater, Ont.

“It’s true. We have a goal provincially to have everyone connected by 2025, and when I see communities like Marnoch getting connected, that really demonstrates how, when all levels of government work together, every side road will get connected,” she said.

SWIFT has pulled together over $270 million in funding to connect 63,000 rural homes and businesses in southwestern Ontario to high-speed internet. It is a game changer for communities like Gorrie that are trying to lure locals who left for the city, back to the country, to work from home.

“Family can be close to where they were raised, and work from there and maybe only have to go into work once in a while, so it’s huge,” said the Reeve of Howick Township, Doug Harding.

“We never want to disenfranchise anyone because of where they choose to live,” said Huron County Warden, Glen McNeil.

For businesses that already exist in places like Gorrie, the arrival of high-speed internet could be the difference between success and failure.

“When we had slow internet, we had multiple problems. Our business is gearing towards more internet-based, from customers to purchasing,” explained Norm Watson, co-owner of Watson’s Home Hardware, where today’s internet announcement was made.

Although internet providers have paid for half of the $15 million in SWIFT projects in Huron County, bringing internet to the unserved areas of all of southwestern Ontario has not been cheap.

“Over the course of the SWIFT project, it’s worked out to be about $63,000 per kilometre. It’s not cheap,” said Watt.

SWIFT ends its mandate next year, but further government investments will help bring internet “to the last mile” of rural southwestern Ontario, or really close, added Watt.

To learn more about SWIFT, you can visit their website.