The SWIFT (South Western Integrated Fibre Technology) rural internet initiative is up for debate at Essex County council Wednesday night.
The program to bring high-speed fibre internet to every household in Windsor-Essex began in 2014, but many members around the council table feel it's taken far too long.
Essex deputy mayor Richard Meloche says the need for access to internet has become more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic with many residents working from home and children doing school work online.
He says spotty internet has been an issue for years.
"It's been intensified in the last few months, but year after year a lot of residents are making it known that they feel that that's something that we need to really push our governments on. So our federal and provincial governments have to take a look at modeling to try and get to the level that we need to be at."
Meloche says the internet has become essential for many.
"I'm almost going to call internet an essential service in our lives today and the pandemic has really brought that out. Without the internet we would be in a very deep hole if this pandemic were to continue for a very long time."
Essex Deputy Mayor Richard Meloche seen after a council meeting on July 2, 2019 (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
He says residents are crying for help.
"I've had residents, particularly in the last three months, repeatedly emailing and calling to let me know that they too believe that this is a concern and I've heard it loud and clear. The pandemic has even brought it more to light of how important it is that everyone in the county has a good level of service."
Meloche says council will discuss several options Wednesday night including cutting ties with SWIFT to allow each municipality to tackle the internet issue on its own.
If the $209-million project moves forward, SWIFT has pledged to have the technology in place by mid-2023 with the majority of construction taking place in 2021 and 2022.