GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR BUILDING AN ONTARIO INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE [Speech given at the International Freenet Conference, Ottawa, August 19, 1993, by Rory O'Brien] -------------------------------------------------------------- As one of the members of the Council for an Ontario Information Infrastructure, an important part of my job is to help implement the provincial Telecommunications Strategy. This Strategy is a blueprint for action - not only by government, but by all stakeholders in Ontario's information economy: industry, business, residential and institutional consumers, labour, and communities. As the Advisory Committee pointed out, Ontario's Information Infrastructure embraces many different technologies, networks, information, services and people. The Infrastructure will be a vast array of services and information in multiple media - data, text, voice, image and video. It will be delivered through high-capacity, interoperable networks, to homes, offices, schools, factories and laboratories. Throughout the province, people will know how to obtain and utilize the information, to provide interactive learning between our homes, our educational institutions and our workplaces ... instant access to emergency facilities and recreational resources ... a veritable network of networks that will interconnect us all. And the Infrastructure's potential for creating wealth will surpass any invention of the industrial age. We can all work together to create this future, and to reap the benefits of the process along the way. That's where the Council for an Ontario Information Infrastructure comes in. I'm here to get the word out to the public, bring partners together. I'm here to listen to your concerns, so I can take them back to the Council. And I'm here to urge you to participate in the process. First, though, I'd like to provide you with a little bit of background on the Council as well as the Strategy. It's important to state, right at the outset, that the Council and the Government of Ontario consider telecommunications a critical component of the information infrastructure that this province needs for future economic development. Information technologies represent many of the skills that Ontario needs for economic renewal and job creation. They provide Ontario with exactly the kind of economic activity detailed in this government's Industrial Policy Framework. Information technology has been Ontario's fastest-growing sector for the past 40 years. And last year, in the United States, the information technology and communications sector grew to close to 10 per cent of the gross domestic product. By providing higher value-added activity, information technologies create competitive advantage for Ontario industry in the global marketplace. Its workers are a skilled labour force. Its sectors provide important linkages to other industry sectors. And the active involvement of its sectors in the advancement of high levels of R&D encourage growth in the whole information technology industry. As the Financial Post reported on June 26, 1993, Canadian telecommunications companies, and I quote, "are far and away this country's biggest spenders on R&D - putting them at the forefront of world-class technology." This all adds up to an abundance of jobs and dollars. I am proud that the communications sector alone produces more than 90,000 direct jobs and roughly nine billion dollars of annual revenues for Ontario. In appreciation of these realities, the government announced the creation of an Advisory Committee on Telecommunications in March 1992, in order to develop a telecommunications strategy for this province. The Advisory Committee's report was appropriately entitled "Telecommunications - Enabling Ontario's Future". It was based on the vision that telecommunications could make Ontario, and Canada, the best place in the world to live, work, learn and do business. In all, over 100 individuals external to government, including representation from industry, labour, government,, and community-based interests, worked over a five-month period to produce this report. In February 1993, the government announced a comprehensive, multi-year Telecommunications Strategy, including new programs, in response to the Advisory Committee's recommendations. The Strategy has four goals: . a telecommunications infrastructure which enables economic growth . a dynamic, growing telecommunications sector . enhanced quality of life through telecommunications . strategic application of telecommunications by the Ontario government In conjunction with these goals, the government has adopted six strategic priorities: . accelerating growth in applications development and use . creating a positive environment for information technology industry growth . investing in people through education and training for telecommunications . helping communities develop . being a model user itself, and . ensuring that technology serves people And this is where I come in. As an important element of this Strategy, the government established a Council for an Ontario Information Infrastructure. Jim Coombs, the former president and Chief Executive Officer of SaskTel, is chairing the Council, which has held four meetings so far. My involvement with the Council undoubtably springs from the work I have been doing for the past 6 years to facilitate online networking among nonprofit organizations. I am Programme Coordinator for Web, a national computer network for groups working toward social change in the areas of environment, social justice, international and community development, peace, human rights, education and health. Internationally, Web is fully integrated with a dozen 'sister' networks sharing the same goals and visions. Collectively, this Association for Progressive Communications (APC) serves clients in over 90 countries. As a Council member, my role is to ensure that the infrastructure we build serves the needs of people who have dedicated themselves to improving the world in which we live. The Council has a number of important functions. As champions of the strategy, our job is to provide leadership. To advise the government. To comment on sector and network development priorities. To develop a public awareness of the importance of telecommunications to Ontario's future. And to review and advise on applications to two new sources of funding available for telecommunications initiatives - the Sector Partnership Fund, or SPF, and the Ontario Network Infrastructure Program, or ONIP. Let me tell you a little about the Sector Partnership Fund, or SPF, first. The Sector Partnership Fund will provide $150 million over five years to provide investment and support that will strengthen sectors of the provincial economy, including telecommunications, so they can work with each other and with labour, in a climate of collaboration. The Sector Development Approach, which is government-wide, includes an innovative emphasis on working cooperatively with sectors and sector stakeholders, in addition to individual companies. It's a whole new way for government, industry and labour to work together. Instead of the government imposing solutions or picking winners, sector representatives can work together to develop opportunities as well as their own solutions to common problems. Sectors can work together on training initiatives, research and development institutes to solve common problems, or projects to foster international market development. Common challenges and initiatives can be identified and defined through a process of consultation, leading to the development of a sector strategy. The telecommunications sector, through the work of the Advisory Committee, has an approved sector strategy and is presently developing and prioritizing initiatives in order to access the government's Sector Partnership Fund. Under the approved Telecom Sector Framework, the sector will be able to use the Fund to: . develop new telecom applications (which should enhance the capabilities of - and add value to - the province's communications networks); . form innovative business enterprises; . establish specialized sectoral infrastructure; or . enhance market development and promotion. The other new source of funding available for telecommunications initiatives is the Ontario Network Infrastructure Program, or ONIP - a $100 million dollar program, funded, over four years, with jobsOntario capital. ONIP is designed to support the development of user-driven telecommunications-based networks in the province. One of ONIP's key objectives is to help Ontarians learn how to obtain and use information to meet their needs and create future opportunities for employment. Funding is available to cover up to 75 per cent of the cost of conducting a feasibility study for a network initiative and for up to 50 per cent of network start-up costs, over a period of three years. The networks developed under this program will literally multiply access to Ontario's extensive information resources, encourage education and training, and create new employment in knowledge-based jobs. One of the first projects approved in-principle under the ONIP program was support for the growth and expansion of ONET, a research and education network that links Ontario's universities, colleges and major private sector research institutes. Another project that was approved under the ONIP program is provincial funding of $60,000 towards a feasibility study for a telecommunications-enabled community economic development strategy,for Atikokan, Sioux Lookout and three communities from the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation. The potential uses of this community economic development strategy for northwestern Ontario are multifold. Residents in these communities could access new information sources, which would allow them to work with other. Institutions could share information, which could enable them to provide more timely and efficient service. Educators could take advantage of video conferencing to create electronic classrooms. The project brings together municipal governments, band councils and the business, education, social services, labour, health and telecommunications sectors, all of whom will have a voice in establishing the elements they would want included in a telecommunications-enabled community economic development strategy. The third project already approved under the ONIP program is an exciting community-based, community-run network in the Ottawa-Carleton area. It's called FreeNet - because it's free to users, and because it's a community-run electronic community centre, public square and information fair. FreeNet provides subscribers with a broad range of upto-date information, 24 hours a day. So far, its databases include regional government agendas and tender documents, community group bulletins, and the Ottawa Public Library catalogue. By 1995, FreeNet is expected to provide information to 50,000 individuals and organizational members. And the information flows both ways. FreeNet allows for interaction between participating organizations, and offers an electronic mail system for registered users. Access to this network will allow both urban and rural municipalities to share social, cultural and economic information. Over the next three years, the government will provide assistance of $140,000 to share the cost of establishing and operating FreeNet. This will help to expand the technological, managerial and training capacity of the network. In addition, funding of $40,000 has been committed to the Eastern Ontario Economic Development Commission through the Community Economic Development Pilot program, for equipment, training and linkup costs to FreeNet. The Sector Partnership Fund. ONIP. The Northwestern Ontario Community Economic Development Study. ONET. FreeNet. They're all great examples of partnerships at work. The gains that can be achieved from coordinating complementary activities, reducing duplicate efforts, taking on larger projects than any one company could and sharing information efficiently, clearly demonstrate the benefit of working together, in information technology sectors as in all other sectors. Hopefully, that's why we're all here today - to continue the process of working together. I am delighted that many groups have already come forward to discuss initiatives they wish to develop through the Telecommunications Strategy. Staff of the Technology and Communications Division of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade have met with dozens of individuals and organizations, including industrial groups, education and research groups, community development groups, and other levels of government. That's an important part of the work of the Council helping to strengthen such partnerships, now and in the future. As I said at the beginning of my talk, the provincial Telecommunications Strategy is a blueprint for action - not only by government but by all stakeholders in telecommunications. So let's get going. Let's share the vision of a provincewide information infrastructure, accessible to all Ontarians. Let's work together - cooperatively. Let's all participate in the future. ------//------- Background on Speaker: Rory O'Brien is Web Programme Coordinator at Nirv Community Resource Centre in Toronto. For the past five years he has been responsible for strategic planning for system growth and development, marketing and promotion, and project management for this nonprofit computer network. He holds a B.A. Communications from Simon Fraser University, and a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University. Mr. O'Brien has served as Chair of the Electronic Networking Advisory Group of the Premier's Council on Health, Well-being and Social Justice, and was a member of the Quality of Life Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee on a Telecommunications Strategy for Ontario. He is also the current past president of the Social Investment Organization.