Dan Robichaud of the Halifax Regional CAP Association hopes the province will fill the funding gap. (CBC)

The people who run Nova Scotia's community internet access sites are bracing for funding cuts.

Only 46 of the 209 Community Access Program sites around the province qualify for federal funding under new rules slated to take effect in April.

In an email to CBC News, Industry Canada, the federal department responsible for CAP, said $2 million will be spent over the next year to fund sites that are more than 25 kilometres from a public library.

That means 163 CAP sites at Nova Scotia libraries, community centres and other public venues in the radius zone are out of luck.

"These are challenging fiscal times and the government must review its expenditures of public funds," Industry Canada's media relations department said in the email.

CAP was launched in 1994 as a way of giving Canadians affordable access to the internet, thus making them more computer savvy. Users can do everything from checking email to searching online for jobs.

Dan Robichaud, executive director of the Halifax Regional CAP Association, fears any cuts in funding will leave thousands of people without web access.

At least 35,000 people use the computer service in the Halifax region, he noted.

"Consider that most of those are seniors, disabled or homeless. The impact can't be measured just in terms of the number, you have to look at what the demographic is of those users," he told CBC News.

Eric Stackhouse, chair of Nova Scotia CAP, said cutting funding affects more than just computer access.

"We hire over 200 youth positions in Nova Scotia each summer," he said. "Those are in very small rural communities that have no other jobs …Those are gone."

Stackhouse said the future doesn't look too bright, even for the remaining CAP sites that meet the new funding criteria. For every dollar that Industry Canada puts in, he said, local partners put in $9.

"If you take out that $1, it's a house of cards, everything falls," he said. "And this is what's going to happen so there will likely not be 46 sites left."

Stackhouse said he was told that the federal government believes it doesn't have to fund CAP any longer because internet access is more widespread than 15 years ago.

Robichaud hopes the provincial government will step in to help, since Nova Scotia is one of the few provinces where CAP is jointly funded by the two levels of government.

So far, the outlook is grim, he said. "It seems to be very much a message to start closing up shop."

Stackhouse said his group plans to meet with provincial officials later Tuesday.