Sable Island is a unique spot off the east coast of Atlantic Canada, 300 kilometres off the shore of Nova Scotia, 42 kilometres long and about 1.5 kilometres wide at its widest point.

The petitioners are asking the government to adopt a national rural and northern broadband Internet strategy that guarantees equitable broadband Internet access to Canadians residing in rural and remote areas in all regions of Canada.

Providing the highest possible wired and wireless broadband speeds and capacity contributes to achieving the target of access to broadband at a speed of not less than 30 Mbps for all by 2020 with at least half of Union households having access to broadband at a speed of at least 100 Mbps, and is important for fostering economic growth and global competitiveness, and necessary to achieve the sustainable economic and social benefits of a single digital market.

(Return tabled) Question No. 357 Mr. Philip Toone: With regard to the Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians program: (a) as of March 31, 2012, what percentage of Canadians will have access to broadband speeds of at least 1.5 megabytes per second broken down by (i) Geographic Service Area, (ii) year; (b) as of March 31, 2012, how many Canadians are expected to receive broadband access through the program, broken down by (i) Geographic Service Area, (ii) project, (ii) year; (c) from the beginning of the program to this day, how many Canadians were expected to be connected to broadband, broken down by (i) Geographic Service Area, ( ...[+++]ii) project, (iii) year; (d) from the beginning of the program until this day, what is the total number of Canadians who have been connected to broadband, and what is the speed of the connection (i) in megabytes per second, (ii) by Geographic Service Area, (iii) by project, (iv) by year; and (e) in order to reach the program’s goal of 98% connectivity, will the program be extended beyond March 2012?

(Return tabled) Question No. 241 Ms. Catherine Bell: With regard to oil spills off the West Coast of Canada: (a) what systems, plans or procedures are in place in case of an oil spill off of Vancouver Island, Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte area, or the North Coast of British Columbia; (b) who would be the first to respond to an oil spill off the coast of British Columbia and who would be in charge of clean up; (c) what are the response times to contain an oil spill in (i) the North Coast of British Columbia, (ii) the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte area, (iii) the North Coast of Vancouver Island, (i ...[+++]v) the West Coast of Vancouver Island; (d) have there been any studies, reports, estimations on the risk or possibility of oil spills due to oil tanker traffic coming from Kitimat or Prince Rupert, British Columbia and, if so, what are their conclusions; (e) have there been any studies, reports or estimations on the possible cost of an oil spill off the coast of British Columbia and, if so, what are their conclusions; and (f) in terms of the gas spill in Robson’s Bight on Vancouver Island (i) has there been any evaluation of the potential damage this spill has caused, (ii) has there been any evaluation of the response and clean up, (iii) are there any further plans for clean-up operations such as removing the truck from the area, (iv) are their plans to ensure that similar accidents do not reoccur in ecologically sensitive areas?

Question No. 65 Ms. Catherine Bell: With respect to the British Columbia coastline: (a) what, if any, voluntary or mandatory restrictions exist for oil and gas tankers traveling north and south between Alaska and the west coast of the United States; (b) what, if any, voluntary or mandatory restrictions exist for oil and gas tankers traveling east and west, to or from Canadian ports; (c) what is the legal status of the 1972 moratorium on oil and natural gas exploration off the Pacific Coast; (d) what is the official position of the government on the 1972 moratorium on oil and natural gas exploration off the Pacific Coast; (e) what, if any, changes to this policy have occurred since 1972; (f) what is the official position of the governme ...[+++]nt on imposing a formal federal moratorium on the passage of all oil and gas tanker ships in the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound; (g) what is the official position of the government on the passage of oil and gas tankers in all directions (north, south, east, and west) from Alaska to points such as East Asia and the west coast of the United States; (h) what, if any, plans does the government have to formalize an overall moratorium of oil and natural gas exploration off the British Columbia coast; (i) what is the government’s plan to deal with oil spills or tankers in distress off the coast of British Columbia; (j) what, if any, studies have been done to determine the risk and potential damage to the waters and coast of British Columbia in case of an accident or spill; and (k) what plans, if any, does the government have to increase Canada’s oil and gas exports, and what impacts on the British Columbia coastline and its waters does the government anticipate as a result of those plans?