If this were a dating column, the In Search Of advertisement might go like this: Very cool Canadian with great natural resources in search of tall, good-looking tower with great communications skills. Must be made of steel. It seems many of the 1.3 million Manitobans have had enough of the long, cold winter nights without good cell service. And the politicians are hearing about it.
“Manitobans with poor cell phone coverage want politicians to get an important message: digital infrastructure and reliable service is essential and can save lives,” reported local television station CTV this week. One of those communities complaining is Stuartburn, about 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg. “Residents want the next provincial government to finally make solid cell coverage a reality.”
Can-am Corner restaurant owner Rick McIntyre knows the problem inside and out. The spotty coverage in his dining room, and all around the area, makes people feel left in the dust when it comes to modern communications.
“Just the other day, one guy came through here and said, ‘This is the land that time forgot,’ ‘cause he tried to use his cell phone and it didn’t work,” said McIntyre.
Firefighters feel helpless because of the poor service. One fire department in Emerson-Franklin said it spends more than $10,000 a year on radios and pagers because cell phones aren’t reliable.
“We had a shed burn down and the guy who witnessed the fire had to climb a play structure to reach 911 coverage,” said Barry Gushuliak, one of the municipalities fire chiefs.
“We had a farmer who had a heart attack in his corral and the guy beside him couldn’t call for a medical first response, and that is just some examples.”
Manitobans understand that a tower network build-out will cost millions but they are optimistic. They’ve made enough noise that election promises are now being made for funding such a project. The New Democratic Party has promised a $5 million fund to partner with industry to expand cell phone and broadband Internet coverage in rural and northern Manitoba and the Progressive Conservatives said they will work with stakeholders to make improvements, CTV News reported. CTV said it “did not hear back from the Liberals on this issue.”
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