A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.

The fight involves internet connectivity in remote regions as Canada tries to live up to its promise to connect every Canadian household to high-speed internet by 2030.

A week ago, the Liberal government announced the loan to Telesat, which is launching a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will be able to connect the most remote areas of the country to broadband internet.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett objected to the price tag, asking Musk in a social media post how much it would cost to provide his Starlink to every Canadian household that does not have high-speed access.

  • @[email protected]
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    fedilink
    English
    12 months ago

    Cambridge bay might be a bad example the research facility is there so imagine that has high speed internet.

    • @Maggoty
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      12 months ago

      You’d be surprised. Sometimes it’s better to just clone and send the hard drive. There’s always the old half joke about the bandwidth of a station wagon moving a bunch of drives down the interstate.