BURNABY - The Premier's Technology Council has released its first quarterly report. The purpose of the report is to identify the province's technological gaps and how to overcome them.

"We pledged in our New Era platform that the council would report within 90 days on strategies to enable all British Columbians to participate in, and benefit from, opportunities in the new economy," said Premier Gordon Campbell. "We're committed to bridging the divide between those British Columbians with access to the new technology - including skills training, computers and broad-band Internet access - and those without. The strategies the council has identified are a first step in helping us achieve that goal."

The report covers a range of options that both the public and private sectors can use to expand Internet access such as expanding local access to high-capacity broadband lines so that several ISPs can use the same regional network. Other recommendations include increasing the use of other programs such as e-health, e-learning, and e-procurement to help renew services and make the government more efficient.

"Council members have been working hard to identify and explore the areas that will ensure British Columbia takes the lead in the technology revolution," said industry co-chair Paul Lee, senior vice-president of Electronic Arts Inc. "We have defined our major issues and the work that lies ahead of us. We now want to receive input from key stakeholders to help identify opportunities to achieve these goals and make British Columbia a global magnet for high-tech investment, growth and job creation."

The report is available online at www.gov.bc.ca/prem/down/the_ptc_report_q1.pdf.

 

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