Canada's digital divide is stark — and rural residents say fixing it must be an election priority

Paul McLauchlin says as president of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, he'd expect to spend all of his time talking about agriculture.

But another topic is front of mind (he's had five meetings about it this week) — internet access. 

"There's literally people in this province that do not have access to any broadband," McLauchlin said.

The RMA has listed rural broadband access as its first priority for federal candidates to address. It's listed as serious of a concern as implementing drought and severe weather recovery programs or addressing crumbling infrastructure.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's broadband fund has set a goal of ensuring everyone can access download speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) or upload speeds of 10 Mbps.

At that speed, it takes less than a second to load an email and just under an hour to download a two-hour-long, 4K HD movie. But that can slow down based on several factors, like if multiple people in a home are streaming or downloading files.

Just 45.6 per cent of rural communities currently meet that threshold. The number is even lower in rural Alberta — 37 per cent of households — according to the Alberta Rural Connectivity Coalition. Indigenous communities face the poorest access, at just 24 per cent of households.