NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR NEWSPAPERS SUPPORT TELECENTRES


TELECENTRE IMPORTANT TO LOCAL BUSINESS OPERATIONSBY CHISHOLM POTHIER,
THE GEORGIAN
MAKING A CASE FOR TELECENTRESBY PETER O'BRIEN,
THE EVENING TELEGRAM
MINISTER DEFENDS TELECENTRE REVIEWBY CHISHOLM POTHIER,
THE GEORGIAN
JEERSEDITORIAL,
THE EVENING TELEGRAM
TELECENTRE CLOSURES SHOCK TO REGIONSBY BERNIE BENNETT,
THE EVENING TELEGRAM
TELECENTRES TO BE REPLACED, NOT CLOSEDBY BERNIE BENNETT,
THE EVENING TELEGRAM


Another satisfied customer

Telecentre important to local business operations

By Chisholm Pothier

the Georgian


Michael Lucking is one person who wants the Regional Telecentre to stay just the way it is.

His company, Heat Exchangers NF., has benefited twice in key ways from the telecentre's equipment and staff expertise.

There are five regional telecentres in the province, funded on a 70/30 basis by the federal government and the provincial government. In the last budget the provincial government stated its intention to reorganize the telecentres duties and spread them around all 20 economic zones in the province. The government has been extremely vague, however, about what it's thinking for the future of the service and has said only that their operations are being reviewed for the next three months.

Currently the telecentres have a mandate to foster business development and knowledge of information technology in rural Newfoundland. They are an accessible site for anyone off the street who wants to learn how to use computers and the Internet. You don't have to be starting a business or looking for business information to use the facility.

What observers fear is that the government is going to turn the telecentres into staid business information centres. If you have a request, the staff person will find the information for you instead of teaching the person how to use computer technology to find the answer for themself, meaning the more important aspect of developing information technology skills would be forgotten.

That would have been a shame for Mr. Lucking's Heat Exchangers company. It has developed unique conservation equipment, specifically a heat recovery shower and a micro-processor controlled faucet that controls water flow to conserve water and test the heat exchanger. At one point the company lost one of its main computer software programmers, who was working out of Vancouver for the Stephenville based company. Mr. Lucking decided to do an Internet search to find a replacement and because he's not on-line he used the telecentre's equipment. Even if he was on-line, he doesn't have the knowledge of how to do an Internet search as efficiently as the telecentre staff.

This allowed him to search the world for a programmer that could work on the specialized program needed to control the micro-chip in the faucet. He narrowed it down to three applicants and eventually chose one from Quebec.

Then telecentre staff person Kevin Brake set up a way for the programmer to send his work from Quebec over a modem to the telecentre, where Mr. Lucking downloads it onto a computer disk and then burns the information into the chip.

"Kevin Brake is very good in and around the Internet and they are the only guys around who can do that for us," said Mr. Lucking last week.

"We were really struggling with the processor controls for the chip and now with this guy in Quebec we can make them a lot better. It's like finding a goldmine."

With the combination of expert staff and equipment at the telecentre, Mr. Lucking thinks it's a resource that would not be duplicated in the private sector if it were to disappear. While operations like ACOA are criticized for wasting money or being politically motivated in their funding schemes, this is one project where the money is well spend and is really helping the community he said.


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The Evening Telegram

Monday April 28, 1997

Making a case for telecentres

by Peter O'Brien


My first thought for a topic for this column was to write about the futility of protests, because every time I read the paper some one or group seems to be venting their anger at some government policy.

That thought changed quickly when I reviewed some of my clippings and was reminded that the provincial government is closing the five telecentes across the province. Some may think that the closure will only impact on the communities of Clarenville, Trepassey, Baie Verte, Stephenville and Forteau, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The staff at the telecentres can confirm that they receive calls from individuals and businesses owners from all across the province seeking information on a wide variety of topics. The centres are geographically located to ensure that they were within easy calling distance of the total province and many people have benefitted from them.

The Evening Telegram of March 29 quotes Wayne Melendy, president of the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce : "We received a letter from Development and Rural Renewal saying the service will be replaced, but will be replace with what?"

Mr. Melendy's question is a fair one and deserves a prompt and public answer from the< provincial government and specifically from the minister responsible for rural renewal. A call to some old development corporation offices sees some of them hanging on because of local successes but the Enterprise Network which provided similar access to information is no longer available to them because of funding cuts.

In fact most of the development associations have gone by the wayside, victims of government restructuring and the zones. Put in simple terms, access to information is becoming more difficult in rural Newfoundland and Labrador as we move rapidly into an age where so much of our economic future will be dependent on knowledge-based business opportunities.

The same story which quoted Mr. Melendy also quoted a spokesperson from the Southern Labrador Development Association who said, "it is a resource centre for business, development groups and individuals, and is our only route to the information highway."

Would it be too cynical to suspect that the provincial cabinet does not want people in rural parts of the province to become independent but would rather they maintain a dependence on< government for every single opportunity for ever more. There is no question the costs of maintaining information links such as the telecentres of the Enterprise Network are high, but surely it does not take a genius to realize that the cost of stifling economic opportunities and growth are much higher.

Any politician that does not believe that the economic costs are significant should monitor the number of skilled, competent Newfoundlanders, who are still leaving daily for opportunities in other parts of Canada and the world.

The exodus has been so significant that Premier Tobin recently expressed concern at the impact that the shrinking population will have on future transfer payments from Ottawa.

The world economic order is changing so rapidly that it is difficult to keep abreast of new technologies and information. The future for many will be so dependent on instant availability of information that the closure of any access points puts people who live in rural communities at a serious disadvantage.

The telecentres and the Enterprise Network were developed by forward-thinking bureaucrats with the support of government because they realized that the key to future economic growth is knowledge. That commitment started in the 1980's as people all around the world realized that access to knowledge would be crucial in the future.

Newfoundland and Labrador was in the forefront in the race to bring knowledge to rural communities. What a pity that as the need for information accelerates the plug is being pulled in a province which continues to struggle so hard with excessive levels of unemployment.

Perhaps I was right when I started to think about writing about the protests in this column but now I believe I would see them from a somewhat different focus.

Now, instead, of being critical of the health care workers, the educators, the fishermen, the parks employees, the school board members and the public sector employees, I should be encouraging every one who feels disenfranchised by the lack of access to sophisticated knowledge and information to join in and express their anger as well.

Peter O' Brien is the vice-president, Atlantic region, for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.



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Consultation being done, says Foote

Minister defends telecentre review


By Chisholm Pothier

the Georgian


Rural Renewal Minister Judy Foote says its unfair to accuse the provincial government of imposing top down decisions from St. John's with its decision to review and change the way regional telecentres deliver their services.

Community leaders were cynical about the March announcement of the review. The provincial government unveiled the zonal development boards with much fanfare about a real grassroots approach to development, where the leadership would come from the zones themselves. So when the provincial government turns around and announces the five telecentres will be changed, and many people suspect closed, the community figures talk of grassroots decision making is only talk. Although the 90 day review period is now half over, groups in Bay St. George such as the chamber of commerce, the Festival Coast Tourism Association and the town council have not been consulted.

But the department of Development and Rural Renewal is consulting the Regional Economic Development zone boards in areas where telecentres now exist which, Ms. Foote points out, have representation from all the development stakeholders in the area, including tourism associations, municipal councils, chambers of commerce, businesses and other agencies.

"It's not being done arbitrarily" she said while in Stephenville for the Supporting Local Business in the Global Economy workshop last Wednesday. "We'll certainly take into account their concerns and we want to discuss what the intention is to get their feedback before they move ahead with it."

But that doesn't mean the telecentres staying the way they are is an option. Currently they operate in five regions and government wants it available in all 20 economic zones and the options involve how best to use the telecentre funding to provide those services in all the zones, said Ms. Foote.

The big concern among interested members of the community - including the chamber, local students and businesspeople - is that the telecentre services will become business information offices, where the staff will provide information but won't be able to show people how to use computer equipment to access the Internet and find that information for themselves. The most important part of the telecentres' mandate is to bring access to and the chance to learn about information technology in rural Newfoundland. It that is lost, rural Newfoundland will not have as easy access to the tools to compete in the global economy.

Those skills and that access will be brought to Canada/Newfoundland Business Service Centres in all 20 zones and anyone who wants to can learn about and access the Internet, said Ms. Foote, whether they are planning to open a business or not. People will also have access to the Internet through public libraries, which won't be giving out business information.

The regional telecentre program is funded under the Strategic Regional Diversification Agreement at roughly $1.3 million a year, of which the province kicks in 30 per cent, or roughly $390,000. That isn't much money, say critics, and the return on the money is excellent. In the meantime, the SRDA last year funded millions of dollars worth of projects including $950,000 for landscaping and small construction on the Viking Trail on the Northern Peninsula and a $533,000 study on farming sea urchins.

The changes in the telecentres is not about cutting the money spent on them, said Ms. Foote. It is about offering those services in all 20 zones for the same amount of money.


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The Evening Telegram

Editorial Monday, May 5, 1997


Cheers and Jeers


Jeers: Closing five telecentres makes little sense, even if those closures might be temporary. The telecentres offer would-be entrepreneurs, small business people and development groups a place to use computers, the Internet and other electronic equipment they can't afford to buy. It's a great resource for them. The provincial government is looking at the possibility of operating similar centres in each of the 20 economic zones, but on the meantime the people who relied on the centres will be out of luck. Giving business a helping hand is in the government's best interests - more businesses mean more employed people, and more employed people mean more tax revenue for governments.

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The Evening Telegram

Saturday, March 29, 1997


Telecentre closures shock to regions


By Bernie Bennett

The Evening Telegram


A provincial government decision to shut down the five telecentre in the province is proving to be an unpopular move.

The telecentres have been advised by the Department of Development and Rural Renewal that they will be closed in six months and layoffs will begin in three months.

The announcement was part of last week's provincial budget.

The facilities in Clarenville, Trepassey, Baie Verte, Stephenville and Forteau on the Labrador coast are the only telecentres in Canada.

"We recently received a letter from Development and Rural Renewal saying the service will be replaced, but replaced with what? Asked Wayne Melendy, president of the Clarenville Chamber of Commerce.

"There has been no communication with the community that whatever replaces the telecentres will meet any of the needs of the business community in this technology area.

"We do not argue that the operations of the telecentres should not be subject to critical review, the same as all other government programs, but we argue strongly that the people to be involved in the decision-making should be the users, not the bureaucrats," said Melendy.

He noted the provincial government has said repeatedly that information technology is an important component of the economic recovery of rural areas of the province.

"That doesn't just happen," said Melendy. "Businesses in rural areas need access to expertise and technology to experiment and explore what the opportunities are in this field..

"This is exactly what the telecentres enable businesses to do."

Development and Rural Renewal Minister Judy Foote was unavailable Friday for comment.

Telecentres provide business people with a place to take advantage of new technology to make them more competitive. They are staffed with people who have exceptional expertise in information technology and how it can be used for business and development purposes.

Centres have access t high-end computes, color and laser printers, multi-media products, scanners and other equipment that small businesses need, but can't afford to have, and are not available in the community on a commercial basis.

The Southern Labrador Development Association is also very concerned about the imminent closure of the telecentres.

A spokesman said the Southern Labrador Telecentre is an extremely important part of the economic development team in the particular zone.

"It's a resource centre for business, development groups and individuals, and is our only route to the information highway', said the spokesman.

He said the telecentre, in a region of 2,100 people on the southern Labrador coast, has 800 registered users. An average of 275 residents of the Labrador Straits use the centre every month.

The spokesman said the telecentre is vital for their economic zone to compete with the rest of the world because they need to be computer literate.

"It is a professional resource, not an educational institution, but it's educating almost half of our residents," said the spokesman.


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The Evening Telegram

Monday, March 31, 1997

Telecentres to be replaced, not closed


By Bernie Bennett

The Evening Telegram


Development and Rural Renewal Minister Judy Foote has set the record straight in response to concerns that five telecentres in the province will be closed.

Rather than the telecentres closing in Clarenville, Trepassey, Baie Verte, Stephenville, and Forteau on the Labrador Coast, Foote announced in the House of assembly that the program will be expanded to include all of the province's 20 economic zones.

"The federal and provincial governments remain committed to the provision of small business and economic development support services throughout the province," stated Foote.

Recent notices were issued by the department advising that the telecentres would be replaced. Some interpreted that as meaning they were closing, as stated in an article in Saturday's Evening Telegram.

"We are currently reviewing means by which those services delivered through the five telecentres can be extended to all 20 economic zones through partnership with other federal, provincial and community-based organizations," said Foote.

"This may mean that the organizational structures that currently exist may have to change in order that those services deemed important to economic and small business development can be maintained, and indeed be extended, to service all areas of the province more effectively,"

Foote said a review of the services will be done within 90 days.

The five telecentres in the province are the only such facilities in Canada.

They provide business people with a place to take advantage of new technology to help make individual businesses more competitive.

They are staffed with people who have exceptional expertise in information technology.

Centres have access to high-end computers, color and laser printers, multi-media products, scanners and other equipment that small businesses need, but can't afford to have, and are not available in the community on a commercial basis.


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