Conservative government cuts Internet access program

The Community Access Program(CAP) costing 15 million enabled people to access the Internet at libraries and community centers. The access was either free or very low cost.

A Nova Scotia representative of CAP said:"Basically, Industry Canada has said it has achieved its purpose and the CAP program is being terminated," "I was really shocked." He said that he had been trying to find out the status of the program for months but received no answers. Such a response would be typical for this government. The representative said that he hoped he could have some discussion before a decision was made. That is the last thing that the government wants.

The program paid for web connections, rent in community centers, coordinators and technical support.The representative said many CAP sites will simply close. The sites that remain will not be able to offer help to people or update equipment.

CAP sites also helped people with tax forms. He noted that many cannot afford a computer or high-speed Internet and many also need help filling out government forms on line. Often government departments tell clients to go on line to fill out or download forms.

I personally used a local CAP site when I had a single computer. When I had any troubles I could just access the site. This is a Conservative government and for them the fewer government services the better. It will leave more in taxpayers pockets as the saying goes. Especially the one per cent.! For more see this article.