November 17, 2003
Education and the Economy
Private Members' Statements
R. Lee: Today I bring to your attention the important issues surrounding the underlying technology structure that affects all of us in our communities, our economy and our education system. This structure is called the Internet. This network of unseen fibre optic cables and equipment provides Internet accessibility for all of us at home and at work. Internet connectivity is necessary for enabling communications, creating business efficiencies, promoting education, facilitating research and distributing information.
Multiple networks exist today, some interlinking and others not. These networks have been developed and are being managed by several different groups around the province. There is BCNET's optical regional advanced network, ORAN; the provincial government's SPAN-BC, the provincial learning network and a few others that provide their users with Internet access.
Today I'm not going to talk about the Internet you use at home. Rather, I will be speaking about the high-speed networks that benefit our academic and research institutions, our health facilities, our government offices and our businesses. The three main areas that benefit from high-speed advanced networks are our local communities, businesses, and education and research institutions. Advanced networks are not necessarily the solution for the digital divide in our communities but, rather, can give some clues on how the problem can be addressed.
An example of this is the case of Prince George, the community I had the opportunity to visit last week. Prince George is connected to BCNET's optical regional advanced network, which is the province's high-speed research and education network. The BCNET network has allowed cutting-edge networking to be available in northern B.C., creating greater connectivity for the community up north. UNBC, the Prince George library, the northern health authorities and other interested local public sector participants will be or have been connected to BCNET's ORAN with speeds up to two gigabits per second.
Prior to the ORAN in northern B.C., there was just a ten-megabit-per-second link to UNBC with no high-speed research and education network available. Now with the ORAN, there's world-class networking to the north available to the public sector community.
While this may not be the solution for all communities in British Columbia, it does provide some insight into solving some of the problems associated with the digital-divide issue through increased accessibility and improved connectivity for communities.
Another lesson that can be learned from the example of BCNET's ORAN is the fact that the network also connects PLN's university colleges. This enables PLN university colleges to gain access to BCNET's high-speed research and education network. That connects academics and researchers in the province and also connects to the Canadian national CA*net 4 high-speed network managed by CANARIE.
The second area benefiting from advanced networks is local businesses. We have been seeing, through the explosion of the Internet among Canadians and globally, that e-business is an important way in which businesses can reach clients and vendors worldwide. It also helps businesses create efficiencies through the use of technology and helps to attract new clients.
Having advanced networks is an attractive business investment incentive that keeps B.C., and particularly Burnaby, competitive in the technology arena. Competition and a healthy investment climate for technology companies are what attract investors like eBay to relocate their call centre in Burnaby. The city and the province are also able to attract and maintain other technology-related businesses and opportunities in this area, such as BCIT; SFU; AI, the Art Institute of Vancouver in Burnaby; Discovery Parks; IBM's innovation centre; the Telus headquarters; and other companies, educational institutions and research facilities, all with an eye towards advanced networks and furthering their working technologies.
These businesses are not only thriving from Burnaby's focus on advanced networks and technologies but are also creating an attractive environment for new clients into the market and for stimulating the technology sector in Burnaby and in B.C. as a whole.
Other businesses that are benefiting from Burnaby's high level of connectivity include local startup companies and small businesses. Urban Networks is a local Burnaby company that's beginning to make a name for itself in the fibre optic cabling business. This is the company that has laid the fibre optic cable for most of BCNET's ORAN. The company has created a business model where it leases strands of fibre to companies and communities that have an interest in high-speed networks. This business model can be used to bring broadband to local communities.
The third area to benefit from advanced networks is the provincial research and education community. The ORAN has been developed and is currently being managed by BCNET, a non-profit consortium of the universities that connects to the national research and education network, CA*net 4. The ORAN provides speeds and bandwidths that are unsurpassed, delivering service 3,000 times faster than the high-speed Internet that we receive at home with ADSL or cable. This means that our research facilities and education institutions can collaborate with their colleagues worldwide, share applications and their work on line, increase communications, distribute information faster and more effectively, participate in video conferencing and share computer resources across large geographical distances. The possibilities are endless, and academics and researchers find new and exciting ways to exploit the networking technologies that are available to them.
I'm awaiting comments from the member for Vancouver-Burrard.
L. Mayencourt: I appreciate the member's comments regarding one of my favourite subjects, the building of advanced networks throughout British Columbia. I'm aware of BCNET and its history in bringing advanced networks to British Columbia, and I know that BCNET was the first regional network in Canada when it was established in 1998. BCNET is an important part of a network infrastructure that extends throughout British Columbia. It shares many similarities with the provincial government network, SPAN-BC, and they are both high-capacity enterprises that carry mission-critical information for very demanding clients. There is, in fact, a very good working relationship between these new networks.
I am also appreciative of the role played by BCNET in advancing research in our province. They support the Advanced Network Conference, which is an annual event that brings individuals and organizations from around North America to discuss how networks can be used to develop new applications in advanced research. I understand that the theme for this year's conference is going to be grid computing. That's where you link thousands of PCs in a chain to form something like a supercomputer. These computers can be geographically quite separate. A measure of their utility is the quality of the network that connects these computers together.
Another project that BCNET is involved in is the NEPTUNE project that was launched recently in Victoria. "Launched" might be the right word for it, because this project will create the world's largest cable-linked sea floor observatory and may revolutionize ocean science. The observatory will consist of an underwater network covering the entire Juan de Fuca tectonic plate, an area of 200,000 square kilometres off the earthquake-prone coast of British Columbia, Washington State and Oregon.
I would like to update the member's information regarding access to the provincial infrastructure for telecommunications. I understand that with the creation of Land and Water B.C., which has responsibility for this area, they have considerably streamlined the process and made it a lot simpler to access provincial rights-of-way and infrastructure. People in the heartlands are loving that because networks are hugely important to British Columbians' lives through information technology.
Our government made a commitment to bridge the digital divide that exists in many communities that have no access to high-speed Internet. Bringing high-speed Internet access to all British Columbia communities will ensure that B.C. residents have access to business opportunities and the potential that connectivity provides. Access to high-speed Internet provides extraordinary new avenues for electronic health service delivery and enriched educational opportunities for students. It gives small businesses in smaller communities a fair chance to compete in a global marketplace and to participate in a knowledge-based economy.
Not bridging the digital divide is not an option. To close the gap, our government is developing dynamic and effective agreements and partnerships. In fact, the Premier's Technology Council recommendations would indicate that we will combine government's annual purchase of telecommunications services with that of other public sector organizations. We will tie the procurement of these aggregated telecommunications services to the provision of broadband in rural and remote communities, something we heard a lot when we were touring with the Finance and Government Services Committee. Because of that, we can offer a cost-effective solution to bring better access to digital services in B.C. communities.
We've worked extensively with many stakeholders, including government data networks, extended public sector entities, telecommunications vendors, communities and other levels of government. We've also been working with the federal government to leverage funding. We're making excellent progress. For example, last June the Minister of Management Services announced four technology projects that bridge the digital divide in several heartlands communities. The province is supporting upgraded high-speed Internet technology to school district 20, the Nisga'a government, the city of Kamloops and the village of Tahsis. Access to the Internet will be greatly enhanced, and high-quality, interactive video conferencing capabilities will be available in all locations except for Tahsis.
Government has developed unique and flexible agreements to provide for high-speed access, helping community-based networks provide innovative solutions by working closely with expertise in the private sector. Recently the Minister of Education announced that several new school districts are participating in an e-learning project that will allow rural students to access, through the Internet, programs and resources they might normally not have.
Together with the Ministry of Management Services, the Ministry of Education is developing a plan to upgrade school Internet access. The ministries are identifying schools and priorities to ensure that heartlands students and educators can access state-of-the-art electronic learning tools. In addition, the Ministry of Management Services is providing technical assistance and expertise to B.C. communities applying for broadband for rural and northern development program funding. I am told that the minister expects to make a significant announcement in this regard in the next few weeks. I, like all members of the House, look forward to those comments from the minister.
R. Lee: I would like to thank the hon. member for Vancouver-Burrard for his comments. This is indeed a very exciting time for all of us in the province, because we have the technological resources to use advanced networks that are available to us to help us achieve greater access and a competitive edge in networking technology and further health, education and scientific research initiated in this province.
However, none of this can be achieved alone. We must foster and support the existing structures so that we can continue to build on what we have already established. We also need to explore new uses and new ways to expand existing networking structures and find ways where it can be effectively interconnected.
After looking into the problems facing a local utility company and a local networking company, I understand there are two primary issues that need immediate attention: municipal access agreements, MAAs, and the cost of using provincial infrastructures. Utility companies would like to work more closely with their public and private sector partners but are hindered by MAA costs and regulations.
Another area where cost is prohibiting business is in the area of trying to utilize provincial infrastructure for telecommunications and networking purposes. The amount of money needed to use provincial infrastructure for networking cabling stunts the capacity and growth of private and public sector activities. Therefore, there needs to be an improved policy put in place that encourages usage of these ducts at reasonable rates. Perhaps adopting policies that are akin to Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, CRTC, rates is a viable option. In any case, this is a second area that should be researched and examined very carefully so that all rates are competitive and fair.
I raise these two issues so that we can all work together to foster technology and the advanced networks sector in my riding and for B.C. as a whole. I have heard directly from representatives of this sector that these two issues need attention if we are to lend a cooperative hand in developing Burnaby and B.C. into an innovation centre. I will be keeping a close eye on developments in this sector to ensure that progress is being made and that issues such as these are addressed and studied very carefully.
