OTTAWA, April 19, 1994 "Together, as Canadians, we must decide how we want to develop and use the information highway for the economic, cultural and social advantage of all Canadians," said Industry Minister John Manley. He made the comment today as he announced the membership of the national information highway advisory council and issued a discussion paper The Canadian Information Highway: Building Canada's Information and Communications Infrastructure.
"This document is intended to foster that dialogue between Canadians; so is the advisory council," said the Minister. He added that these discussions are essential to the implementation of a Canadian strategy for the information highway.
On March 16, Minister Manley named McGill University Principal and Vice-Chancellor David Johnston as Chair of the council.
The advisory council, along with other Canadians, will have the discussion paper as a starting point as it looks at the many issues to be addressed in developing a strategy for Canada's information highway. These include: how to use the information highway to improve the growth and competitiveness of all Canadian businesses; how to ensure that Canadians have universal access to essential services at reasonable cost; how to achieve an appropriate balance between competition and regulation; how to promote the development and distribution of Canadian culture and content.
"We know that these rapidly evolving issues will have profound impacts on the people of Canada," said Mr. Manley. "The federal government is determined that these effects will be positive ones that enable us to meet our objectives:
Council Members include:
Andre Bureau, past Chairman of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and currently Vice-Chairman of Astral Communications Inc.
Bill Etherington, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM Canada Ltd.
Francis Fox, former federal Minister of Communications and Chairman of the Board, Rogers Cantel Inc.
George Harvey, Chairman of the Board of Unitel Communications Inc.
Douglas Holtby, President and Chief Executive Officer of WIC Western International Communications Ltd.
Rosemarie Kuptana, President of the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada.
Terry Matthews, founder of Newbridge Networks Corporation.
Gerry Miller, Chairman of CA*net Networking Incorporated.
Jean-Claude Parrot, Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).
Anna Porter, Publisher, President and Director of Key Porter Books.
Gerri Sinclair, Director of ExCITE (Exemplary Center for Interactive Technologies in Education) at Simon Fraser University.
David Sutherland, Chairman of the Board of Directors and acting President for the National Capital FreeNet.