Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is John Lawford. I'm the executive director and general counsel at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. PIAC is a national non-profit organization and registered charity that provides legal and research services on beha

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre defines the consumer interest in broadcasting as ensuring that consumers benefit from access to a wide variety of programming in the broadcasting system that offers choice in an affordable manner. Unlike in 1991, consu

Industry committee  Just briefly, I would add that we don't know, if these two merge, how much Shaw and Rogers would have spent collectively. It's not clear from what they have said. They've just said they're going to spend $2.5 billion on 5G, but how much would Shaw have spent plus Rogers have spen

Industry committee  Can I start by saying that it's both yes and...? It's both that the specific deal is a problem and also that it shows the destruction of 15 years of trying to have a fourth wireless player. This is the last chapter, and it will kill the policy if it goes through. This specific de

Industry committee  Yes, you're right. The CRTC MVNO decision is going to probably allow mobile virtual network operators, but the details are the devil here. There are some hints in the hearing that it was only going to be for players that had facilities already, like Cogeco, like TekSavvy, that ow

Industry committee  I think it's a business gobbledygook term. It doesn't actually have any meaning. I think what they're thinking is that they will be larger and better capitalized and, therefore, will be able to roll out services on the pace they want to, where they want to and when they want to,

Industry committee  I think you did about as well as anybody could with that term.

Industry committee  Yes. The Competition Bureau, when they have a settlement with merging companies, can put in conditions. They can follow up usually up to five years afterward. They could dream up any conditions to put on here. I would just say, on the efficiencies defence, the Competition Bureau

Industry committee  If I may, I'll just say that most of the time when companies are merging and they're talking about efficiency gains, those involve employment. That means firing people. It may not happen over the next two or three years, but that's the amount of time it usually takes for two orga

Industry committee  Raising the issue of whether to have either price regulation, which is what I think you're saying, or at least an affordable package for lower-income Canadians hasn't been favoured by the CRTC since the new act came in, in 1993. There have been many proceedings since saying they'

Industry committee  The efficiencies defence is something that the Business Council of Canada urged be put into the Competition Act when it was reviewed in the nineties. It's an unfortunate appendix that we should really cut out, because we are pretty much alone in OECD countries with that kind of d

Industry committee  I expect the Competition Bureau to conduct a thorough investigation. We'll be there to advocate consumers' interests. As I indicated in my remarks, it's been proven by means of a rigorous test that this major merger would hurt consumers more than it would promote efficiency gains

Industry committee  I'll answer in English if you don't mind. The Shaw family, of course, is at that stage where they may want to cash out, and they're going to have a seat on the board. It's also, unfortunately, showing the difficulty of mounting a full attack and being a fourth player in Canada.

Industry committee  Thank you, Chair and members of the committee. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre has advocated for consumers for over 40 years in communications law and policy. This committee cannot stop Rogers from acquiring Shaw. Mergers are controlled by the Competition Act. The CRTC appro

Transport committee  As I think Maître De Bellefeuille said, they would likely be unsecured creditors at the very bottom of the heap. If the company were to come to an arrangement to hand out, let's say, 17¢ on the dollar, they would get their portion after secured creditors took that 17¢, and I'm su