The government is giving almost $2 million dollars to a North Bay company, Blue Sky Net, to help improve internet connection in Northern Ontario.
"Whenever we have new residents coming into the community, they are always inquiring about internet service and actually in East Ferris, when we compare ourselves to other surrounding municipalities, this is where internet coverage is the lowest," said Pauline Rochefort, East Ferris Mayor.
Rochefort says the terrain and distance is one of the many reasons why a strong internet connection is a problem for many northern municipalities.
Susan Church, Executive Director of Blue Sky Network, says they "serve 568,000 properties which are in Northern Ontario… with our actual facilitation of projects our area extends to Mattawa in the east, to Temagami in the North, to Manitoulin Island."
$1 million dollars will be used for Blue Sky Net's operations for the next three years.
The remaining money is going to the company's 'Business Technology Improvement Fund', used to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with funding to purchase new tech.
"The $890 thousand goes to Blue Sky Net to help companies upgrade what they have as far as electronics go as far as connectivity to make sure they're competing at the leading edge," said Anthony Rota, Nipissing-Timiskaming MP.
According to Church, the work Blue Sky Net does has been able to save almost 400 jobs in the north.
