Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Many things have been said, and they've triggered many reactions. I'll try to be brief.
First of all, with respect to the question that Mr. Housefather just asked Mr. Ripley, I'd like to say that we haven't always felt compelled to wait for other countries before taking action. In 1999, we decided to exclude online undertakings from regulation. That resulted in the mess we found ourselves in for years thereafter and the unfair system in which our Canadian actors were forced to try to survive. Now we're trying to regulate what we didn't regulate 20 years ago. I think we have a responsibility to do that without being forced to wait for an inspirational model to emerge somewhere in the world. Let's do something on our own for once, based on what we want to put in place. I think we have a duty to do that.
Now, as regards the registration of undertakings, I understand that we have concerns about what the CRTC may want to regulate. That's why we're proposing that it be given the authority to establish categories. I'm not saying all undertakings must be subject to registration. The CRTC would have the power to establish categories.
Incidentally, our amendment BQ-16, which we'll discuss later, would provide that an undertaking that doesn't have a significant effect on the Canadian broadcasting system would not have to be subject to registration, and that decision could be reviewed in the event the undertaking in question began to have a more significant effect on the Canadian broadcasting system.
We'll be introducing amendment BQ-34 later on, and I hope we have a chance to get there during this week's debates. Under that amendment, an online undertaking would be allowed to operate without a licence, without registering and without being exempted by the CRTC from the obligation to hold a licence or to register. That would obviously apply to undertakings that don't have a significant effect on the Canadian broadcasting system.
I think we also have a duty to bring fairness to the market in which our Canadian broadcasting undertakings, both conventional and online, operate. The idea here is not to prevent free Internet services; we're talking about our broadcasting system, which foreign online players are entering. Foreign undertakings that come and operate here, in our broadcasting system, which I think has characteristics that are unique in the world, must abide by the rules we put in place. We have to establish rules, not to please those undertakings, but to ensure we have a system that's fair for all participating players.
That's why I think amendment BQ-15 is entirely appropriate.