Evidence of meeting #46 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rural.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
February 21st, 2007 / 4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Maurizio Bevilacqua Liberal Vaughan, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chairman
First of all, I want to thank you very much for your presentations. You gave us a sense of the world pre- and post-deregulation in your markets, and obviously you have some major concerns.
There are many issues at play. You have large markets, smaller markets, large firms, and smaller firms, but it seems that the issue of timing is the one you're really stuck on. Obviously Mr. Ignacy would like to get on with it right away. Mr. MacDonald and the rest, I guess, would like to wait.
Did you not anticipate this move by the minister? Was deregulation something that you never expected would happen?
4:45 p.m.
Persona Cable
The present government was elected by rural Canadians, so I have to tell you, quite honestly, that I'm shocked by this punitive decision, this punitive order, for rural Canada.
That's my view of it.
4:45 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Access Communications Co-operative Limited
We certainly didn't expect this type of retroactive writing of the rules, no.
4:45 p.m.
President, Bluewater TV Cable
We would never have made the investment if we had anticipated that they were going to do this.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Maurizio Bevilacqua Liberal Vaughan, ON
Basically, you are saying that this period of six months, or whatever it's going to be, is so crucial that it's sort of a deal breaker.
4:45 p.m.
A voice
That's a good term. Absolutely.
4:45 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Access Communications Co-operative Limited
I'm not sure that it's a matter of a specific period of time. You characterized it right, that these are temporary. We're asking for some temporary protections. As we get to that threshold, which the commission had set at 25%, which we thought was a good number, and that's why we made that investment.... If it happens earlier, fine. If it happens later, fine. But I think it's a good test and a good threshold for the sustainability of our business model.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Maurizio Bevilacqua Liberal Vaughan, ON
Canadians--some--actually follow our committee; right, Mr. Chairman?
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Maurizio Bevilacqua Liberal Vaughan, ON
So perhaps you could explain to them what it means for your firm in real terms. What does it all mean? Does it mean that you are shutting down? What happens to these communities?
I think we have to put some real-life examples out there, examples that we collectively, as a committee, could also think about.
4:45 p.m.
President, Bluewater TV Cable
We need to provide competitive services to our customers in order for our business to survive. This is a competitive service. We are a 7,000-subscriber system, and our primary competition is Bell Canada anyway. We are fighting Bell Canada on Internet services, which is a huge money machine, and we are fighting them on DTH services. They are knocking on our doors. We have to provide competitive services if we want to keep our customers, and this is a competitive service.
4:45 p.m.
Persona Cable
What's interesting, to put it into the perspective of what we have seen in the telecom industry and in the cable industry in the last few years, are the benefits of the bundle, as they say. Consumers want to be able to buy their phone, their TV, and their Internet from one provider, with one bill. There is a ton of convenience to it. If we're not able to go into the markets with a phone service so that we can bundle it, we're at a huge competitive disadvantage.
Obviously, in terms of seeing out in the future, you can see where it's going to go.
4:50 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Access Communications Co-operative Limited
You asked what it means to the consumers. In North Battleford, Saskatchewan, it means that the bottom line is that all bets are off. We won't be there until we know what's going on with respect to what's going to happen on the competitive landscape. Whereas I had said to consumers and my customers in North Battleford that we'd be there within 18 months, the answer now is that I don't know. I suspect not.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
4:50 p.m.
Persona Cable
I'll tell you what happens. There will be a full-page ad in The Globe and Mail to phone your telephone company and ask for a discount. We short the stock, and we're all going to make a lot of money.
4:50 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Access Communications Co-operative Limited
You can't phone the phone company and ask for a discount in North Battleford, Weyburn, or Estevan because we won't be there, and that's not fair.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Dan McTeague Liberal Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
Sure.
Mr. Ignacy, who owns your company? Is it Bell Canada?
