A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.

The fight involves internet connectivity in remote regions as Canada tries to live up to its promise to connect every Canadian household to high-speed internet by 2030.

A week ago, the Liberal government announced the loan to Telesat, which is launching a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will be able to connect the most remote areas of the country to broadband internet.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett objected to the price tag, asking Musk in a social media post how much it would cost to provide his Starlink to every Canadian household that does not have high-speed access.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Remote tech workers aren’t living in a place without broadband, and I seriously doubt they’re moving to villages so remote they get supply planes, as weather allows. And yes the area includes the Arctic Circle. Remote workers are living in a medium sized town with a fiber backbone connection because their job already depends on it. They aren’t pining away at Cambridge Bay wishing someone would give them broadband internet.

    Large areas of the world are fine without broadband internet. Especially when the method of delivery is to smother LEO with disposable satellites. Trying to extend the western standard of living to every corner of the world instead of ameliorating the standard is a major driver of climate change. Some things just don’t work in remote areas.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I’ll repaste the same here since you and another basically said the same thing “fuck poor people and rural people and minorities” right?

      Lol what a joke, so you’re saying people in rural areas don’t deserve Internet lol fuck those kids who want to learn, and fuck those people who live out there and don’t have the means to live in an expensive city, they should enjoy their shitty connections or no connections at all.

      You’re hilarious

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Geosync Satellite Internet works fine for learning, they still have school and libraries. Geosync has worked for decades, so the question isn’t should we screw them over. It’s should we upgrade, given the price?

        There’s plenty of other ways to bring services to these very remote areas and raise their standard of living. Just because one thing is held back does not mean nobody cares about them. It means we’re being responsible with our resources and environment.

        And it’s especially important to question these things whenever people start talking about, “for the kids!”

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Geosync Satellite Internet works fine for learning, they still have school and libraries. Geosync has worked for decades, so the question isn’t should we screw them over. It’s should we upgrade, given the price?

          No it does not, you cannot do any sort of voip learning with it.

          There’s plenty of other ways to bring services to these very remote areas and raise their standard of living. Just because one thing is held back does not mean nobody cares about them. It means we’re being responsible with our resources and environment.

          Yea they tried that and it failed…

          And it’s especially important to question these things whenever people start talking about, “for the kids!”

          I’m not even going there with you.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I’m sorry. I didn’t realize learning online was restricted to VOIP. That’s usually solved by just making teachers available there.

            But I am going there with you because you started with remote workers and went to “but the kids!” When you realized you were wrong.

            • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              The majority of interactions online that matter (e.g. jobs/schools/training/certs) require low latency. Stop fucking acting like they don’t.

              I pointed all of this out in one large lump, and you ran with “the kids”. Which is ironic coming from you, who pulls the “the kids” when it’s about gun legislation…

                • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  Uhh…ok? Have you attempted to do them on geosync satellites with latency in the 2k range? Have you attempted a certification where someone monitors you? All of this does not work with high latency…the fuck are you a sales person for huesnet?

    • Auli@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Cambridge bay might be a bad example the research facility is there so imagine that has high speed internet.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        You’d be surprised. Sometimes it’s better to just clone and send the hard drive. There’s always the old half joke about the bandwidth of a station wagon moving a bunch of drives down the interstate.