Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In answer to Mr. Van Kesteren's question, I would say that this is a government of action. The position of the public, whom we represent in this forum, is not always favourable and we mustn't forget that. There is a democratic principle at play and it's interesting to see that one level of government is disregarding that principle.
The committee is here to make decisions. I've already heard Mr. Arthur say that Members' work is important. And yet, we're finding out today that the Minister has disregarded a motion that was passed by the committee by a margin of seven to three. We're facing a serious problem with democracy.
We asked the Minister to hold off until we had taken stock of the situation in the telecommunications sector, but he ignored our request. Just because he could legitimately make this decision after 40 days doesn't mean that he needed to do so. A committee had decided to send the ball back into our court by asking us to examine the telecommunications sector and the CRTC in particular and to subsequently make recommendations. However, we need time to do the job. We're not going to find out everything we need to know in a single day. We know all about oligopolies in the oil industry, and we don't want to see a repeat of the situation in the telecommunications sector. Some caution is in order.
We want to protect the public. Mr. Carrie has given us some statistics. We can interpret the numbers to suit ourselves. It's up to us to decide and to make recommendations. We should take the time we need to thoroughly examine the issues facing the telecommunications sector.
The report was supposed to be tabled on March 1. Why not wait until then? What's the rush? Could there be some cronyism at play here? In point of fact, things have moved too quickly. As a committee, we have decisions to make and people to hear from, but we're being pushed to act hastily. If we have no authority to make decisions or recommendations, why are we bothering to hold meetings? Our words and actions don't seem to have any effect whatsoever. The Minister decides whatever he wants to do because the 40-day period has elapsed.
We have some serious work ahead of us. The people who elected us, the people whom we represent here, deserve some measure of respect, at the very least.
Thank you.