Evidence of meeting #115 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Yes. That's a function of the share price at any given minute, so the market capitalization of Bell is different now than it was an hour ago.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Do you think that it's in the range of, like, $10 billion?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
The market capitalization is significantly higher than that. Again, it has decreased significantly, unfortunately, in the last couple of months given the share price. Rob will have the number.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Do you think it's $20 billion?
I'm just curious. Maybe you can just tell me if I'm getting warmer. Is it $20 billion?
Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer, BCE Inc.
I'm sorry. I was having trouble with my microphone.
The current market cap of Bell is about $40 billion.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Thank you so much.
Bell, then, has a worth of about $40 billion—with a “b”. This is a company that is worth $40 billion and has received hundreds of millions of dollars in government handouts, which, let's be reminded, are taxpayer dollars, yet this is a company that just laid off 6,100 of those taxpayers. Is that justified?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
May I now answer all these questions? There were several there.
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Having strong Canadian companies is a fundamentally good thing—
Conservative
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Chair, I've not yet had an opportunity to even provide one sentence of an answer, so I'd like an opportunity to comment—
Liberal
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Mr. Bibic, you're right. You actually have answered with a few sentences. You said you didn't know maybe six different times.
I'm hoping perhaps you'll know the answer to this question: Is it justified that you just laid off 6,100 employees in the last eight months when you have received hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government and it is a company worth $40 billion?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
I would think that we'd want a strong Canadian company that can continue to employ tens of thousands of Canadians. We employ 40,000 Canadians with good-paying jobs. We are right now faced with an economy where we have difficult foreign exchange with the U.S. Most of our inputs are in U.S. dollars. The costs of inputs are increasing. Inflation is rampant in Canada. Unemployment was at 6.1% in March alone—
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Our content costs at Bell Media are increasing. We have a—
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
We have a massive productivity issue in Canada, so these are the macroeconomic factors that all Canadian companies, including Bell, are dealing with. We're trying to adapt and adjust so we can continue to grow, which is a very good thing, and so we can continue to hire, retain and employ 40,000 Canadians.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Mr. Bibic, I'll just take a moment here to remind you about this committee.
As a duly elected member of Parliament, I sit here at this table able to ask any question that I wish. Your job is to answer those questions, not in the way that you wish to answer or to make the spiel that you wish to put out there, but rather in a factual manner. If you fail to do so, we have every ability to bring you back in a summons.
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Chair, I fully respect the committee's work and my role in answering the questions of the committee. In fact, I welcome public policy discussions. Over my 20-year career in this industry, I've appeared before many committees and regulatory proceedings and industry round tables, and I will always treat this committee and the process with the utmost respect. It's a fundamental part of what my career has been about.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
We've now ended the six-minute question and answer time.
We'll go now to Mr. Noormohamed for six minutes.