Thank you, Mr. Minister, for coming today. It's good to have you back to our committee.
I'll just go back a little bit, if you'll allow me. I come from a riding in southwestern Ontario, basically rural and small towns. My largest town is 14,000 people, and I have about 55 other towns that make up my riding, along with many who are in rural areas.
Mr. Angus is gone, but I certainly don't have people as rural as Mr. Angus has up north. Yet I can tell you that in the Internet service part, which is not regulated, a few years ago we didn't have anything, and now, quite honestly, it's amazing what has happened in terms of access to the Internet, especially high-speed access.
It still raises some concerns that have come from some of the stakeholders and customers, and I'll raise them because I have the rural issue and the small communities. In our rural communities the concern is that under your policy directive these communities could be left vulnerable to only monopolies or duopolies. Could you help and explain whether this would be true or not?