Expanding the Definition of Utility to Include Telecommunications

Whereas the federal government, through the Connecting Canadians program, has the goal of providing high speed Internet to an additional 280,000 underserved Canadians by 2021; And whereas the Province of British Columbia has the goal of 100 of its residents having access to high-speed Internet services by the end of 2021; And whereas when approached by local Internet providers for assistance with capital costs associated with expanding their Internet services to underserved communities, local governments are constrained by the statutory prohibition on providing assistance to industrial, commercial or business undertakings section 273 of the Local Government Act; And whereas local governments wish to have the flexibility to consider providing capital funding to initiatives that support the development of high speed Internet and cell coverage across their regions: Therefore be it resolved that the Province of British Columbia consider an amendmentupdate of Section 275 of the Local Government Act so as to specifically list telecommunications i.e. internet, broadband, cellular as a utility for which a regional district may operate the service of providing capital financing.