Speech From Throne 

January 30, 2001

In the new, knowledge economy, the path to national prosperity and personal opportunity travels the Internet.

Building a state-of-the-art, high speed information infrastructure is as essential to Canadian success in the 21^st century as up-to-date roads, bridges, airports and ports were to our success in the 20^th century.

Harnessing the potential of the Internet is a global race. To the victor will go the spoils: increased opportunity, good jobs, higher standards of living and a better quality of life.

Our government is committed to building a fast lane for Canada on the information highway. We are committed to:

• Giving Canadians the skills and opportunities they need to become the most Internet-savvy people in the world;
• Making the Government of Canada the most connected government in the world to its citizens;
• Helping entire communities go on-line to connect with local governments, schools, businesses, citizens and health and social services;
• Creating the legal and regulatory framework to make Canada a world leader in e-commerce;
• Making Canada a natural magnet for investment, research and development;
• Using the power of the Internet to make Canadians more aware of their unique history, identity and culture.

Since taking office, we have followed a national vision and strategy -- called Connecting Canadians. It is based on building new partnerships that make things happen fast - because we understand that speed isn't everything in the knowledge economy, it's the only thing.

Through SchoolNet, we were the first nation in the world to connect all our public schools and libraries to the Internet.

We helped set up over 6500 public Internet access centres in rural and urban communities across Canada.

By March 31, 2001, in partnership with the private sector, we will have provided 250,000 computers to Canada’s public schools and libraries.

We introduced legislation to protect personal and business information in the digital world and to recognize electronic signatures – key steps in reassuring Canadians that they can do business on-line with the same expectations of trust, confidence and reliability that now exist in everyday commerce.

We supported the development of the world’s fastest and most advanced optical Internet, CA*net3, which is revolutionizing telecommunications technology.

We have launched a redesigned Government of Canada web-site – the first major deliverable in achieving our commitment to be the world’s most connected Government to its citizens by 2004.

We created a National Broadband Taskforce to advise the Government how Canadians together can achieve the goal of making high-speed broadband access available to Canadians in all communities by 2004. High-speed broadband, the next generation of the Internet, will provide the foundation for improved services such as distance learning and tele-health and will give small businesses access to broader markets.

2001 SFT Commitments

• The Government will work with the private sector to achieve the goal of making broadband access widely available to citizens, businesses, public institutions and to all communities in Canada by 2004.T
• The Government will continue to support the Community Access Program and SchoolNet, ensuring that Canadians, their communities and their schools can have access to the Information Highway.
• The government will continue to support the development of digital content for the Internet and other new media in French and English.
• The government will continue putting its services on-line by 2004 to better connect with citizens.
• The government will continue to modernize federal privacy law to safeguard the personal information of Canadians and provide better copyright protection for new ideas and knowledge.