Government said it was going to consult with interested parties before any decision was made. Critics said government had already made up its mind and was going to close the telecentres and rplace them with 20 business information centres.
The 90 days are up. Government will close the telecentres and replace them with 20 business information centres.
Ok. That's a tad cynical. Government, through the Strategic Regional Diversification Agreement, says it will still provide the promotion of information technology uses in business and economic development in rural Newfoundland, as well as information techology among individuals, threough a new provincial network. That is great, if it happens, because that was by far the most important service of the rural telecentres. There's other ways to get straightforward business information in the province. But the telecentres were an opportunity for business and individuals in the province to get up to speed with information techology and the internet. It seems too obvious to state, but that is essential to the economic future of rural Newfoundland.
So the new delivery systems - a series of business information centres, a new network to promote the use of information technology and an increased number of public access sites to the Internet in public libraries and schools - look good as a replacement for the regional telecentres if the SRDA does everything it says it is going to do.
What we have a problem with is the consultation that was done. Simply put, there was no consultation as far as we could tell. Half-way through the 90-day review period the Georgian phoned a number of organizations interested and concerned about the future of the telecentre in Stephenville - the local RED board, the tourism association, the town council and the chamber of commerce - to see if they had been consulted. As far as we know now, none of these organizations were ever consulted. And the consultation period is over.
This isn't really a big surprise. Brian Tobin's government was elected promising consultation on pretty much everything from the annual provincial budget to school reform and closings. There seems to have been some lip service paid to budget consultations but nobody seems to have been consulted on the recent rash of school closings. In any event, consultation is a farce if government does it for show and then goes ahead with the decision it had already made. That seems to have been the case with the telecentre review.
You know, this really isn't acceptable. When you're dealing with economic development in rural Newfoundland, you just have to listen to the people on the ground in rural Newfoundland. The much vaunted grassroots that politicians always want to be seen listening to, but ultimately dismiss their suggestions as impractical. Well then don't pretend you're going to implement a grassroots up system of economic development in the province. That was the word a few years back when the zone boards were created, but the only tangible result so far is that rural development associations - the real grassroots in this province - have been cut off at the knees as economic development gets centralized within the larger zone.
And St. John's holds on to its decision making power, increasing the centralization and maintaining the top-down power structure in the province.
It's not a big surprise but now it's official. The five regional telecentres will close as of September 30.
Last March, Development and Rural Renewal minister Judy Foote (who was shuffled into the Industry portfolio on Friday) announced a review of the way the regional telecentres delivered their services in all 20 economic zones in the province, not just the five areas with telecentres.
The regional telecentres, established in 1990, had a mandate to promote knowledge of and skills in information technology in rural Newfoundland and to offer businesses and potential entrepreneurs access to business information on the Internet and some business counselling. The centres were equipped with excellent technology and well trained staff who had a reputation of guiding people with little knowledge of the Internet or computers through the potentially intimidating new world of information technology. When it was announced that the telecentres would be reviewed, users of the service and some community groups reacted strongly, arguing how important the telecntres were to rural Newfoundland.
While the government promised a 90-day review that would include consultation with concerned parties, observers suspected the decision was already made so last week's news of the closure is not a big surprise.
However, all the services offered by the telecentres will be offered in some way by a series of new initiatives although what the government means by consultation remains a little hazy.
The federal and provincial governments - which funded the telecentres 70/30 under the Strategic Regional Diversification Agreement - will establish a network of 20 Business Service Centres in each of the economic zones. They are being touted as one-stop shop centres offereing a full range of business and economic development information and access to business databases, along with business counselling services.
The access to the Internet - which wasn't much in rural Newfoundland in 1990 - is now more widespread, according to the telecentre review, and there are 55 Internet access sites established in public libraries or schools through the provincial Libraries Board, which will be expanded over the next three years.
The telecentres' most important role was bringing information technology skills to rural Newfoundland and promoting an awareness of its use in small business and economic development. The government funded Operation ONLINE has a similar mandate, as well as to foster information technology in the province, but so far has been limited to St. John's. The telecentre review plans to get the regional economic development boards to work with Operation ONLINE to create a network providing those services throughout the province. The SRDA plans to ante up $375,000 to hire five information technology "champions" to work with that network.
The regional zone board in this area received a letter from the SRDA on July 2 asking them to review these plans. The SRDA started implementing the plan on July 1.
Halfway through the 90 day review period announced in March, there had been no consultation with any of the interested organizations in the region. At the time Minister Foote said the SRDA review was consulting with the zonal boards, who had representatives from all the interested parties such as tourism associations, development associations and chambers of commerce. Although the zone boards registered some concerns about the future of telecentres with the government, they did that on their own and there doesn't appear to have been any consultation.
Nonetheless, Tom Hutchings, co-ordinator of the Zone 9 regional board, says at first glance it looks as if all the services of the telecentres will be offered but in different forms. The zone boards were most concerned that if telecentres were switched to simply business information centres, rural Newfoundland would lose promotion and education in the fastest growing industry in the world, said Mr. Hutchings. No other agency or industry was doing that, he said.
"The way our economy is we can't give up on one of the fastest growing industries in the world," he said, but it looks like that will continue with the expansion of Operation ONLINE and the hiring of the five information technology experts.
Mr. Sullivan says the telecentres might end up as a small office with a computer but no staff to assist people wanting to use and learn about the technology.
"Government's attempt to broaden the telecentre service is going to result in a much more reduced level of service."
The telecentres have been praised by both business and community groups for promoting economic development through information technology in rural parts of the province, he said, and government made a big mistake in not getting input from the telecentre operators before making its decision.
"Rural Newfoundland and Labrador is receiviong yet another blow from the government and I
certainly hope it's not simply a cost saving measure," said Mr. Sullivan. "It is time for government
to begin making long-term decisions instead of using its standard ad-hoc approach to governing."
all five telecentres will cease to operate in their current form as of September 30, 1997.