In June 1998, the Prime Minister of Canada announced the creation of the group of experts on smart communities, with the mandate to advise the Minister of Industry on the relevance and possibility of integrating information and communications technologies into Canadian communities to better serve citizens. Their report was published in February 1999.

In accordance with the opinion formulated by the group, in its 1999 budget the federal government allocated $60 million over three years to finance 12 smart communities demonstration projects, one in each province, one in the Northwest Territories and one in a First Nations community.

Industry Minister John Manley officially launched the Smart Communities Program in June 1999. This three-year program was established to help Canada become a world leader in setting up and operating ICT for economic, social and cultural development.

It�s in this context that the Concertation rurale Centre P�ninsule (CRCP) embarked in a process to propose a Smart Communities project for the entire Acadian Peninsula. To achieve this, the CRCP presented a letter of intention to the Smart Communities Program in August 1999. Afterwards, the National evaluating committee retained the Acadian Peninsula�s proposition for the 2nd phase, which was the submission of a business plan in January 2000.

Industry Canada announced in May 2000 that the proposed project was chosen as the Smart Communities project for the province of New-Brunswick. In that context a new corporation called Collectivit� ing�nieuse de la P�ninsule acadienne (CIPA) inc. was vreated in the autumn of 2000. The CIPA then took charge and proceeded to the elaboration of a work plan which was submitted in the Winter of 2001. It became official by the signing of a contractual agreement between Industry Canada and the CIPA on September 1st, 2001, followed by the start of the project on October 1st, 2001. To find out more, consult the Smart Communities section on the federal government�s Industry Canada Internet site at this address: http://smartcommunities.ic.gc.ca