Ontario cancels $100M Starlink deal, leaving northern communities in digital limbo

Rajpreet Sahota · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 05, 2025 6:01 PM EST | Last Updated: March 5

Ontario's determination to cancel its $100-million declaration with Elon Musk's Starlink arsenic portion of Premier Doug Ford's effect to caller U.S. commercialized tariffs has near Indigenous communities successful the northbound questioning the government's committedness to broadband access.

Sol Mamakwa, the Ontario NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong, says the cancellation raises superior concerns astir integer infrastructure for distant communities struggling with reliable internet.

The contract, signed successful 2024, was intended to supply Starlink outer net to 15,000 distant homes and businesses successful Ontario. However, the Ford authorities scrapped it successful retaliation to President Donald Trump's commercialized measures against Canada.

"My archetypal station of it was fundamentally to the radical that messaged maine from the northbound successful my riding connected however it's going to interaction them," Mamakwa said. "Internet is an indispensable service… you request to beryllium capable to person entree to beryllium capable to bash business, it has worth to the economy, to bash the banking, to taxable immoderate online things that we request to do."

Mamakwa noted that adjacent compartment telephone work remains spotty successful parts of his riding, making online entree adjacent much essential.

Ford announced the determination Tuesday arsenic portion of a broader economical effect to Trump's tariffs connected Canadian goods. The premier besides banned U.S. companies from bidding connected Ontario procurement contracts.

"We besides request to beryllium acceptable to excavation successful for a agelong fight," Ford said. "We request to beryllium acceptable to escalate utilizing each instrumentality successful our instrumentality kit."

While the Starlink cancellation does not impact idiosyncratic Starlink users who person already subscribed to the service, Mamakwa says the government's determination leaves distant Indigenous communities with adjacent less options for connectivity.

"When you interruption the numbers down, it's precise significant. It is astir $7,000 per connection," Mamakwa explained. "Why is compartment work not happening up there? Because there's little people, there's nary wealth here."

Mamakwa has agelong been a proponent of alternate broadband solutions that absorption connected Canadian-owned infrastructure alternatively than reliance connected overseas providers. He pointed to existing fibre optic networks successful northwestern Ontario, managed by groups similar K-Net, arsenic examples of amended semipermanent solutions.

"Some of them are faster than Starlink. So that's the mode we request to go," helium said, calling the outer net a "shortcut." "We request to beryllium capable to look astatine the 5 terrestrial fibre networks that person greater capacity."

With Ontario present seeking Canadian alternatives to Starlink, Mamakwa says the authorities indispensable prioritize semipermanent investments successful fibre optic and cellular networks alternatively than short-term governmental decisions.

"Broadband Internet volition beryllium disposable for each Ontarians, nary substance wherever you are successful Ontario. That was [the province's] commitment," helium said.