Thank you for that question.
To begin with, I would like to explain the government's general position on telecommunications.
As you know, the government issued a policy direction to the CRTC on December 14, pursuant to Section 8 of the Telecommunications Act.
These policy directions set out, for the benefit of the CRTC, the market and the general public, the overall orientation that the government intends to follow as regard Canada's telecommunications policy. It establishes a regulatory framework for the CRTC, more specifically, as a means of implementing our vision, which was the inspiration behind the policy direction issued last December. I should also say that last March, as you pointed out, we received the report of an expert panel containing 127 recommendations. These experts criss-crossed the country for a year and listened to what Canadians had to say. They also called on international experts. They released their report in March 2006. One of their recommendations was to issue a policy direction to the CRTC asking it to rely on regulations as little as possible where market forces are present and where there is competition. That is exactly what we did. Following that, there was a lot of discussion as the review panel went across Canada.
We are proud to have issued that policy direction. It is in keeping with the objectives of the Telecommunications Act. It asks the CRTC to consider market forces when drafting regulations, in addition to concerning itself with social regulation.