Finance committee  My name is Pierre Thibaudeau, I am the Mayor of Saint-Fabien-de-Panet and I am speaking on behalf of the Regional County Municipality of Montmagny. I want to share with you a problem which is common to every community throughout Canada. I will wait a moment until the chair is re

Finance committee  I am here to talk about a major problem which affects every community with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants and who live in areas which do not have access to an important tool today, namely the cellular phone. To truly occupy the land, a country must really be everywhere and work wi

Finance committee  The funding came from Industry Canada.

Finance committee  It was called the Broad Band Program.

Finance committee  The schools were connected. It works.

Finance committee  The program should also include cellphones. We went back to Industry Canada, but it seems that this is not possible.

Finance committee  I talked to the phone company. The problem is one of capital. An antenna costs $500,000. The price is supposed to come down as technology progresses. But the company still does not want to invest that much money. Part of the purchase price of the equipment will have to be directl

Finance committee  Let me give you a concrete example. The company cannot estimate the number of potential clients. In a normal situation, the phone company makes money when people talk on their cell phones in any location. But in our case, they cannot assess that. Many people, such as mechanics, X

Finance committee  You seem too serious. Your trip through Canada has worn you out.

Finance committee  In Quebec, we relax on Fridays.

Finance committee  No, not necessarily. It's a complex problem. I don't want to bore you with it. An antenna cannot cover a large mountainous area; there are some limits. So we would need another antenna or a repeater. I don't have all the answers, but I do know some things. The program must inclu

Finance committee  It's more a matter of lack of access than remoteness, because sometimes the areas are not really that remote. That's why I said it was important for the government to help people to stay in their communities, regardless of where they are located.

Finance committee  That shouldn't be too hard. It's no problem getting a licence.

Finance committee  It was cable for the three municipalities, and for every other place in the RCM, it was optic fibre, including Bellechasse and L'Islet. Telus provided the connection to the school board of these municipalities.

Finance committee  You may claim that, but I'm not so sure. I want the address and the phone number. I will call tomorrow morning and then I will get back to you. You can be sure of that.