Coming from the Manitoba Telephone System, we lived under a crown corporation and we were able to see first-hand what happened when we were privatized. As the witness before me said, they were able, because of their public policy, to offer good service, competitive service, throughout the province.
In Manitoba, since that's happened, the private company now is only going where the cream is, where the money is. When it comes to competition, that's all that the competition is looking for, what is down in the urban centres.
In Manitoba, prior to privatization, CEP had 32 locations across the province and we had well-paying jobs. Now we have three locations across the province. The competition doesn't look at the rural. It doesn't look at the remote areas. So I would argue that by having the ability to compete on a level playing field, MTS is now going to be able to invest back into those rural areas. For them to lose 25% of market share before they can compete with companies that are just as large as MTS, as the previous witness said, is tying their hands behind their backs.