I understand the need to be quick here, so I'll speak in bullets if I may.
First, I think we have moved over a period of two or three decades from monopoly situations to duopolies and then to more of a market situation. There's an evolution.
We are a country of 34 million people now, with a huge geography and many time zones, with vast expanses of land that cost more in terms of infrastructure than European or United States comparisons would indicate, and we've done rather well, considering that. If you consult the CRTC's most recent monitoring report, the Communications Monitoring Report, for 2009, you'll see some international comparisons that reflect less poorly on our competitiveness and affordability than you tend to get from some of the recent information.
I'd just like to point out that in 2003, when this committee was studying this matter the last time, the Canadian dollar was down in the range of 70 cents and below. Today, the Canadian dollar is at 98 cents and is projected to pass above parity. It's a 50% change in exchange value with the U.S. dollar. The euro was at 1.6-something and is now 1.35. It's a 15% change. These things tend to tilt statistics in a way that makes our infrastructure look more expensive but have nothing to do with the underlying fundamentals.
Then there's also the issue of mergers. I noticed that Mr. McTeague raised this subject with the industry department last Thursday. The issue of unintended consequences is one where you can do something and provoke a Telus-Bell merger, for example. What are you going to do about that?
There are a lot of anti-competitive factors at work in the marketplace today that relate to company policies. We commissioned a major research project from Pollara, just a year or two ago, about Canadians' attitudes to the cable industry. We found that a majority of Canadians really didn't feel they had a choice in telecom providers, because the companies bundle Internet, cable, and telephone services for you to buy at the same time. It's too big a decision to change it.
Those are my bullets.