Chart 3. Computer and Internet access, Canada, provinces and territories, 2003
Source: Statistics Canada, Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, 2003
Looking only among computer users, British Columbia (92.3%) and Ontario (92.1%) led in terms of the proportion of computer users with Internet access at home. Nunavut trailed with about two-thirds (67.4%) of its computer users having access to a connection at home. The overall national figures mask the disparities occurring between regions.
Although Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia all had Internet access rates above 70%, penetration rates grew more quickly from 2000 to 2003 in most of the other provinces (Table 1). This is in part because the penetration rates in the leading provinces were already considerably higher, and therefore had less room to grow. Penetration rates for Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario grew by less than 40% from 2000 to 2003, while penetration rates for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Quebec grew by nearly 60%.
| Computer access | Penetration growth rate |
Internet access | Penetration |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2003 | 2000 | 2003 | |||
| % | ||||||
| Canada | 58,3 | 68,0 | 16,6 | 42,2 | 60,9 | 44,4 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 48,7 | 55,9 | 14,8 | 30,7 | 47,9 | 56,2 |
| Prince Edward Island | 51,9 | 60,5 | 16,5 | 34,4 | 51,7 | 50,2 |
| Nova Scotia | 53,7 | 62,2 | 15,8 | 40,7 | 55,4 | 36,0 |
| New Brunswick | 46,9 | 59,9 | 27,7 | 32,7 | 51,7 | 58,1 |
| Quebec | 50,1 | 61,6 | 23,1 | 33,8 | 54,1 | 60,1 |
| Ontario | 62,2 | 70,9 | 13,9 | 46,7 | 64,9 | 38,9 |
| Manitoba | 51,7 | 63,4 | 22,6 | 32,4 | 53,6 | 65,3 |
| Saskatchewan | 52,9 | 64,1 | 21,1 | 34,3 | 54,8 | 59,8 |
| Alberta | 63,4 | 74,4 | 17,4 | 47,7 | 65,2 | 36,6 |
| British Columbia | 66,2 | 72,8 | 10,1 | 49,6 | 66,8 | 34,7 |
| Yukon Territory | .. | 75,0 | .. | .. | 67,7 | .. |
| Northwest Territories | .. | 63,6 | .. | .. | 55,9 | .. |
| Nunavut | .. | 39,8 | .. | .. | 26,9 | .. |
Notes: For the sake of comparability between survey years, figures for Canada exclude the territories. 2000 data are for the population aged 15 and over, 2003 data are for the population aged 16 and over. 2003 figures for computer and Internet access reported in this table differ from figures reported elsewhere in this paper because they include the total population aged 16 and over. This was also done for the sake of comparability with the 2000 data source. Elsewhere in this report, unless otherwise noted, figures are for the population aged 16-65 only. 2003 data include laptop computers brought home from work.
.. not available for a specific reference period.
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, Cycle 14, Access to and use of Information Communication Technology, 2000. Statistics Canada, Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey, 2003.