Rural Burlington should have access to broadband internet before the end of the year

By Pepper Parr

June 14th, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON

It was a long awaited announcement that means a lot to the people in north Burlington.

Milton MP Adam Van Koeverden

Milton MP Adam van Koeverden spoke to a small group of people via Zoom this morning announcing that broadband internet access was going to be available in the not too distant future to homes in a catchment area bound by Hwy 407/Dundas on the South, Bell School Line on the East, and Walkers Line on the west. Derry Road is the northern boundary.

The work is being done by Standard Broadband under a federal funding project that has a Rapid Response element that works with communities that are basically shovel ready.

The federal government has pumped $2.75 billion into the Rapid Response that covers the country.

Halton currently has six Rapid Response projects on the go with two in the Milton area. The most recent reached into the northern part of Burlington and is called the Zimmerman project.

The work started in mid-February. Mostly research and determining where equipment would go – that will continue into late July.

Tom Williams, the President of Standard Broadband

Tom Williams, the President of Standard Broadband said he expected the system to be in place and operational sometime in November.

The longer term objective is to have everyone in the region with broadband level access to the internet.
One member of a group called the “broadbanders” who did the original due diligence work on what was needed and possible agreed with MP  van Koeverden that the internet is to Canada today what the building of railways was in the late 1800s. Every community of any size was going to have a rail line.

The event was important enough for the Rory Nisan Councillor for ward 3 and ward 6 Council member Angelo Bentivegna to be on the call.

Mayor Meed Ward was there for a couple of minutes – connecting as best she could from her cell phone.  She was on her way to an event at Backed by Bees in north Burlington to take part in the announcement that Backed by Bees was donating to the Burlington Food Bank. Products like honey are not usually donated to the food bank said Robin Bailey, Executive Director of the Food Bank, however families love receiving it when it’s available so the wonderful folks at Backed By Bees are proud to offer raw honey for donation at a reduced cost specifically cared for and harvested for The Burlington Food Bank.

Bentivegna said it was “a great day for all” and that he was “beyond ecstatic”.

Williams explained that the work being done in this initial phase is part of the backbone of the system that will be in place eventually.

The federal department overseeing the project nationally is the Innovation, Science and Economic Development ministry.