Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 6

180 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6 million-dollar initiative connects homes and businesses across Canada – particularly in rural or remote areas, like the Municipality of Shelburne – to high-speed internet; allowing people to live, work, and connect online more easily. Smith acknowledges, “People are looking to move to a safe community, where they can work from home, run a business from home, help their children to learn online, and stay connected with family living in other areas. This project will see almost 100% of our residents and businesses able to utilize the best high-speed fibre internet available in Canada in their home. Council is really proud of that.” Currently, 95% of residents and business have access, making the Municipality of Shelburne one of the first rural municipalities to do so in Nova Scotia. With the pandemic, the timing could not have been better. Deputy Warden of the Municipality of Shelburne, heavily populated regions due to the impact of COVID-19. Penny Smith, Warden of the Municipality of Shelburne shares, “In the past 12 months, we’ve seen an increase in property sales and lots of new people coming into the community. We’ve also seen a spike in construction and renovations. Our building inspector has advised that there’s been a 53 percent increase in the number of new dwellings from April 2019 to March 2020.” Shelburne saw a 13 percent increase in property sales from 2020 to 2021, with some months doubling sales in comparison to previous months. There are a number of residential and commercial initiatives taking place in the region and more land that’s available for development. A real game changer for the area has been the significant investment in its broadband connection through a partnership with Bell Canada and Develop Nova Scotia and the high- speed ‘Fibre to the Home’ project. The multi- TheBELLALIANTandFIBE trademarksareownedbyBellCanada. Internet speeds just got better The fastest Internet technology for everyone in your home. Don’t put up with the bandwidth tug-of-war. Pure fibre Internet. Everyone in the house gets the fastest Internet technology. Get it today for an amazing price. Check availability at bellaliant.ca/fibre