Industry committee  I have nothing to add to Ms. Léger's comments.

Industry committee  Yes, I think Michael Janigan at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, who has testified here, would be more appropriate to answer that question, because he's done so much work in the area. But I think it always comes back to what the alternatives are for the customers. If you ge

Industry committee  What some companies are doing as an incentive to sign on with them is giving you a free gift. For example, the promotion that Telus has right now is that you'll get a free camera if you sign up for a three-year deal. If you cancel within the three years, you'll be subject to the

Industry committee  Well, this is Internet service, and Internet service isn't regulated at all.

Industry committee  Well, actually, no. Internet service is not regulated. Your local telephone is regulated. The terms are separate.

Industry committee  Yes, I'm afraid of that.

Industry committee  That is something that I am concerned about in deregulation. Currently, under regulation, none of the monopoly companies can threaten to cut off your local telephone if you have unpaid long distance, for example. So currently, they could not. Under deregulation, there is a possib

Industry committee  No, I wouldn't take it that far. That's just the way I happened to write it, as it appealed to me that way. I am familiar with the competitor presence test. I made submissions that I didn't believe that it was an appropriate test; but be that as it may, it was the test that the

Industry committee  No, I'm not, but that's based upon my understanding of what the costs are for those particular services. So the competition, as I mentioned, was Shaw in B.C. and then the telephones. The costs simply aren't comparable, but the services aren't comparable either.

Industry committee  Just briefly, Telus actually was the Internet provider for the union in a labour dispute. What they did was shut off the union's website. So it's very interesting what can be done by the Internet providers. Whether it's legal or not is another question.

Industry committee  Briefly, I also agree with the comments from Mr. Proulx. In terms of who would benefit, I would say it would be urban areas. I also believe the middle class would benefit by having more choice. I don't think they're going to see better prices as a result of that choice, but they

Industry committee  Are you familiar with law foundations?

Industry committee  Okay. Our primary core funding comes from the Law Foundation of B.C., which funds hundreds of organizations across B.C. Another part of our funding comes from participating in hearings for utility, electricity, and telephone matters. We've done very little telephone in the last n

Industry committee  Right. We regularly appear in front of regulatory bodies, most often the B.C. Utilities Commission. If there's a case we want to take on, it has to meet our mandate; it has to be in the public interest. We're focusing on poverty rights and disability rights at the moment.

Industry committee  What it means is that when you're dealing with a large player that can take advantage of low-income consumers, poor people, the poor people can get together and eat the fish.