It is with great pleasure that I announce today the Acadian Peninsula Smart Community project, the smart community demonstration project for the province of New Brunswick, selected as part of Canada�s Smart Communities program.

To that effect, I am pleased to announce that CIPA will receive $4 583 328 in counterpart funding from Industry Canada, over a three year period. The Smart Communities program is part of the Connecting Canadians program, whose goal is to make Canada the most connected country in the world.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Industry Canada for its important contribution, which will surely have a very positive impact on the entire Acadian Peninsula community.

The Acadian Peninsula is now resolutely engaging in a process aimed at facilitating the region�s entry into the era of knowledge, and of information and communications technologies.

To attain its goal, the community will have to learn to use information and communications technologies in effective and innovative ways that will help further its development.

The Acadian Peninsula Smart Community Project is innovating in proposing a holistic approach that will integrate smart services susceptible of generating major social and economic transformations in the Acadian Peninsula.

CIPA and its partners are proposing, through this project, to establish a �sustainable rural development model adapted to the socio-economic reality of our rural, francophone region.�

The model encompasses a series of community empowerment mechanisms, a system of infrastructures and converging smart services and a measurement and evaluation plan, and proposes the development of networking applications that will unite Francophonie members worldwide.

It is also composed of an entire array of services related to the major sectors of community life such as history, geography, demography, economy, tourism, education, health, cultural and community activities, and offers access to municipal and government services.

The Acadian Peninsula Smart Community intends to take up the challenge of conducting the New Brunswick Smart Community Demonstration project. The basic intent of this process is therefore the elaboration of a �societal project� that will deeply transform the Acadian Peninsula, allowing it to confront the new millennium with confidence and conviction and ensuring its competitivity within the context of market globalization and the global village.