Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to go back to our earlier discussion on new media. I think your fundamental challenge or problem is that, when the 1999 exemption order went into place, basically it was an acknowledgement at the time--and I still think it is valid today--that the government wasn't going to regulate IP-based packet-switched networks. The only countries that do that presently are not as free and open and transparent and democratic as ours. We don't regulate those big OC-3 lines or other big cables coming across the border. Those packets come flying across those borders on those big cables and the Government of Canada, directly or indirectly through regulation, doesn't monitor those packets. There are countries that do that. They are far more authoritarian and less open than we are. So I think that it's going to be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for governments to ever regulate packet-switched, IP-based networks.
I put that out there as a point, because I think you were right in your earlier testimony when you said the challenge here was not to regulate more but to ensure that Canadian voices are heard on broadcast media.
I note today that Research In Motion released its next generation of BlackBerry. It's going to work on the 3G networks. It's going to have a camera. It's going to have a video recorder. It's going to have enhanced web access. Apple has announced that this summer it's coming out with a new platform for the iPhone that will have enhanced multimedia capabilities. These are all on packet-switched, IP-based networks.
I put the point out there, just as a comment, that maybe we need to look at it from the other end, as you suggested. Maybe the solution isn't more regulation, but rather for governments at some future date to say, “Look, we're entering into an era now where foreign media will be ubiquitous within our country because of these IP-based networks, and as a result, we're going to take a look at putting more resources into the public broadcaster to allow and ensure that Canadian voices continue to be heard within our own country.”