Industry Committee on Feb. 21st, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Monsieur Arthur.

[André Arthur, Independent, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I clearly asked the witness to tell us on what basis she was appearing before the committee, and she indicated that she was an expert. I am trying to see where her expertise comes from.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

No, analyst!

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Order.

[André Arthur, Independent, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I am trying to find out where her expertise comes from, and if that shocks the Bloc member from Montreal, that is not my problem.

[Robert Vincent, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

I have a point of order. Mr. Chairman, we will continue along the same lines.

If Mr. Arthur has points to raise and he is unable to grasp... The witness said that she was an analyst. He understood that she was from the Union des consommateurs, since that is written here on the agenda for February 21st. If he is unable to do his own research into the witness's qualifications or to have that done by his party's research team...

[André Arthur, Independent, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chairman, no one better than the witness...

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Order. One at a time.

Monsieur Arthur had a brief point.

[André Arthur, Independent, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Nobody is better qualified than the witness to talk about her qualifications.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

On this point of order, from my understanding--I'm trying to follow very rapid French--Mr. Arthur was asking who were the members of the Union des consommateurs. I allowed that. I thought it was a valid question. I think any association that comes before us typically would be able to answer who the members of their association are.

That's what I thought the question was and that's why I allowed the question.

Mr. Arthur is out of time anyway, so now we go to Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for being here today. I recognize that you are not a 100-year-old monopoly with access to lawyers and opinion research that you could tailor-make to your own group and organization, unlike Bell and other groups that have presented here in front of us.

There's been a lot of discussion about who represents consumers. We've had Bell say that, we've had the minister say that, and we've had your organization. Have you seen any of the opinion polls or research presented to us by Bell, for example, arguing that consumers are in favour of this? Have you had a chance to see that, and what is your opinion of that research?

[Marie-Ève Rancourt]

Yes. I read that poll and I also have the poll that was done 12 months earlier and which said the opposite. I don't know if you are aware of it. So we have two polls that give conflicting opinions.

You are no doubt aware that the telecommunications sector is extremely complex. You have been meeting for a number of days to try and understand the ins and outs of deregulation, to understand the framework that has been brought forward by the CRTC, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, as well as the framework that has been brought forward by Minister Bernier.

I would be insulting your intelligence if I were to say that you felt consumers were expressing their opinion by answering yes or no when asked if they are in favour of deregulation.

In my opinion, deregulation is an extremely complex issue. It is hard to get your head around it, and you can't simply answer the question with a yes or a no. Unfortunately, it is probably difficult for many people to understand who is behind the scenes in all of these infrastructures, as well as the problems and the regulation that govern the telecommunications sector.

If you follow current events in Quebec, then you know that polls can be designed to say just about anything. We have to be very careful when using polls to write policy in areas as complex as telecommunications.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

That's exactly how I felt. I think it's important as well to...and this is an issue I'm really concerned about, so maybe you can answer this. One argument against deregulation that at least I have been supporting is that you can't really go back. We heard from some of the individuals here with their companies that they're freezing operations and they won't enter into other markets.

In your opinion, how sound is the suggestion or argument they're making that if we go toward deregulation too quickly, the way the minister is proposing, we'll actually reduce competition for the long term?

Second, do you have any concerns about restricting the percentage of ownership that's required under the current law on foreign investment?

[Marie-Ève Rancourt]

Absolutely.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's good enough for me.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much, Mr. Masse.

Thank you very much, Ms. Rancourt, for your presentation.

Members, we have about 10 minutes to get to the House for votes.

Thank you very much for your questions and answers today.

The meeting is adjourned.