I moved to Montreal back in 1999 to work with a graphics card manufacturer and this you could say was my first foray into the world of technology

The reality of coming out of university with a degree from the then economically disadvantaged province of New Brunswick helped in my decision to leave home to start a new life. New Brunswick had since realized that branching out and attracting top-level companies through a trained, tech-savvy bilingual workforce could guarantee that its youth wouldn’t have to leave home for greener pastures.

Election time is on its way and a group of business, marketing and technology professionals have decided to put pressure on Premier Jean Charest to develop a digital strategy for the province of Quebec. Backed by statistics from the Canadian Internet Project, and those from an Index of e-commerce statistics in Quebec which show that Quebec is lagging behind the rest of Canada with regards to several leading indicators such as a lower level of technology adoption by francophones, low levels of online purchases from Quebec-based vendors and the fact that many Quebec small-medium businesses don’t even have a website to make themselves locally and globally competitive among other statistics.

The key pillars which this proposed Digital Plan for Quebec has focused upon are as follows:

1. Eliminate the barriers to entry for Quebec citizens to allow full access to digital services in order to perform online transactions.

2. Encourage Internet adoption amongst Quebec businesses, especially small to medium organizations.

3. Offer technology training for Quebec youth.

4. Start laying pipe for high speed internet for all communities in Quebec, Reinforce internet safety and a perception that digital transactions are a viable means for purchasing goods. Allow for digital governance and citizen participation with politicians and guarantee the rights of expression for the community at large.

For the link to the full letter (in French), please visit this site and do help to evolve this plan by lending your voice to the wiki http://www.unplannumeriquepourlequebec.com

Now more than ever, we as Quebec citizens can influence the accountability of our political leaders. We just need to get involved.