Some of Canada’s top media execs have joined the National Broadband Task Force to advise the federal government on how best to make high-speed, broadband Internet access available to all Canadian communities by 2004.

The task force, chaired by Dr. David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo, will map out the strategy by March 31.

In addition to dozens of telecom companies that make up the bulk of the task force, Canadian content creators and distributors on board include: Michael MacMillan, chairman and ceo, Alliance Atlantis Communications; Jim Shaw, ceo, Shaw Communications; Louis Audet, president and ceo, Cogeco; John H. Tory, president and ceo, Rogers Cable; and Brenden Paddick, president, Regional Cable Systems.

‘Access to high-speed broadband will provide the foundation for improved services such as distance learning and tele-health, and will foster both regional and local economic development,’ says Minister of Industry Brian Tobin, whose department initiated the task force in October through the Connections Canada initiative.

Connections Canada is a series of programs that utilize information and communication technologies to connect the country in what is an increasingly competitive knowledge-based global economy.

Among its many assignments, the task force, which is now up and running, will report on the institutional and technological needs of a full range of communities in Canada.

It will also advise on the rate of high-speed Internet use that would result in capacity constraints in inter-regional transmission. *

Samantha Yaffe