Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez kicked off his inaugural tour of Western Canada on Monday. The Montreal MP is hosting a series of stakeholder meetings with multicultural organizations and representatives from the creative industries in BC this week, marking his first official visit to Western Canada since he took over the culture portfolio from Melanie Joly on July 18. When he returns from a two-day cabinet retreat on Vancouver Island Friday, he’s set to meet with Vancouver’s screen industries, with an anticipated funding announcement set against the backdrop of the Vancouver Film School (VFS).
The CRTC has published its snapshot of use of phone, mobile and internet service in Canadian households between 2012 and 2016. Drawn from Statistics Canada’s Survey of Household Spending and CRTC sources, the data shows that Canadian households have continued to abandon landline telephone service in favour of mobile service, with almost a third (32.5 per cent) subscribing to mobile service only in 2016. Household subscriptions to television distribution services slowly declined, with about three in four households subscribing, while the percentage of households with internet service slowly increased, passing 87 per cent. Canadian households spent an average of $222.83 per month for their communications services, an increase of $4.41 (2.02 per cent) from 2015. Canadians continued to spend more per month on mobile services ($92.08) and television distribution services ($53.75) than on internet services ($49.50) and landline services ($27.50).
Bell has announced an increase in its Fibe Internet access speeds to 1.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps), the fastest access speed to the home available in Canada. Unlimited Fibe 1.5 Gbps service is now available in Ontario with rollouts to Québec, the Atlantic provinces and Manitoba to follow. In PCMag’s The Fastest ISPs of 2018: Canada report in June, Bell delivered the highest overall internet speed index ever recorded in Canada by the magazine. Atlantic Canada’s Bell Aliant took second place in the national ranking.
Rogers says its improved wireless service in more micro-markets including Modeland Road and Michigan Line in Sarnia, and in the Dundas Street and Franklin Boulevard areas of Cambridge. The network enhancements are part of a multi-year national network plan, and follow similar upgrades in Brampton and Port Dover.
Civilized, the cannabis media brand with headquarters in Saint John, NB and California, is partnering with comedienne Chelsea Handler on a cross-Canada tour. The Canadian ‘A Civilized Conversation With Chelsea Handler’ tour follows a successful debut event in Saint John in association with the World Cannabis Congress. Modelled after town hall events Handler has been doing in cities across the U.S. that have been centered around social and political activism, Handler will appear with Civilized founder/publisher Derek Riedle. The tour kicks off in Calgary on Sept. 20.
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