Canadian Heritage committee  I think the point Alain was making in the remarks is that the different activities conducted by the companies are regulated differently. So even if they are engaging in communications activities that on one side have the broadcasting activities and on one side the telecom activit

Canadian Heritage committee  There is a very fulsome set of regulations under the Broadcasting Act that have to be adhered to if you are both engaged in broadcasting distribution undertaking activities and broadcasting activities, on which I would defer to Jean-Pierre. Those are extremely clear about the obl

Canadian Heritage committee  Just to respond to that question, there is a plan under the economic action plan, Broadband Canada, which has had two rounds of funding announced, and a third round will be announced. So there will be 220,000 households that have been connected or will be connected through that a

Canadian Heritage committee  It's being spent through Industry Canada. There is a national program. It was a competitive bid process. We did a mapping, first of all, to map all the unserved communities. Then there was a competitive bid through the private sector. It was basically the most coverage for the le

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, it was any private sector provider. There were two rounds of funding that were announced in May and in June. There is conditional approval for 77 projects with a total funding of nearly $110 million. There's going to be a second round that will be announced as well.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm sorry, a third round. Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  There is a program to address that need, the Broadband Canada program. There are already 220,000 households that will be served through that and there will be additional funding forthcoming through that. And that was the priority of the economic action plan.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's done by a competition process. There was a mapping to identify all the unserved communities. We then asked for tenders from the private sector who would then come back with their bids. The communities have been identified that will be served, so that's in the process of bein

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, it's funded by government.

Canadian Heritage committee  Partially. It's a competitive process, so whichever company comes up with the best bid will win.

Canadian Heritage committee  We can provide those.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  We will turn now to the fifth question: What could be done to ensure that all Canadians, no matter where they live or what their socio-economic status is, have access to emerging and digital media? The Government of Canada has adopted an approach that consists in enabling compe

Canadian Heritage committee  The question is with regard to the impact of changes in foreign ownership rules, including legislative and regulatory changes, on Canadian content and culture. In June of last year the government released a consultation paper inviting views on foreign investment in telecommuni

Canadian Heritage committee  Speaking for Industry Canada, I would point to the digital economy strategy, because I think our minister has really laid a very clear vision of where we see the priorities. There are five priority areas. The first is to have world-class infrastructure. Another is having business