There is a great series on CBC’s Spark during the elections caled Canada’s Digital Wish List.
We’re asking people who work in technology and innovation to tell us what they think Canada needs to do now in order to be considered a major innovator in the future.
The first item on the list is given by Heather Creech, Director of Knowledge Communications at the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD). She wishes for a strong vision and national policy for our access to the Internet. She decries how Canada is no longer a leader in broadband access. She believes that the Internet infrastructure should be looked at as seriously as roads and health care. This infrastructure includes not only lines and cables, but also the content, the software, and the engineers that make the whole system work.
She definitely is dead on, but with the campaign being centered mostly on how low the shots can go, I’m skeptical about seeing such serious issues discussed by our leaders.