Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, Minister. Having spent 35 years of my life trying to make a living in an industry that is very tightly regulated by the Canadian government and the CRTC, and having noted that, in terms of broadcasting, CRTC regulations have pulled us into a spiral of large company monopolies and service of increasingly lower quality, at the expense of radio and television artists and sponsors, I was particularly proud and happy to support your plan to deregulate local telephone service, as well as the CRTC directive that market forces be allowed to operate wherever possible. You don't need to convince me that this is a useful measure. I believe it was not only an essential move, but a courageous one.
Mr. Brison talked about how difficult it is to provide telephone service at lower cost in rural areas. There is no connection between the two issues, and constantly harping on the CRTC ruling of April 30, which was made in accordance with current legislation and in the absence of deregulation, is unreasonable, in my view.
Mr. Bernier, have you attempted to forecast when the major Canadian markets will start to benefit from deregulation? Our anglophone colleagues have a habit of saying “the proof of the cooking is in the pudding“, and I would therefore like to know when the results of deregulation will become clear.