Evidence of meeting #10 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was competition.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Does that mean government should take proactive measures to ensure that right is enjoyed by people in rural areas?
Chief Executive Officer, Public Mobile
I think the government should try to facilitate access to capital and competition so it naturally arises, as opposed to ham-fisting it and trying to drive it through at an unnatural pace.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Mr. Kirby, you said your company and other companies like yours will create jobs here in Canada, unlike Stelco or other companies. Was that it?
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
I look at downtown Montreal, and there's the Bell Tower and the Bell Centre, but won't a lot of your call centre jobs be offshore?
Chief Executive Officer, Public Mobile
No. We're taking a position that unlike some of the incumbents that have driven calls offshore--I'm tired of explaining to somebody where Scarborough is in Toronto when I'm making a directory assistance call--all our call centres are here in Canada, and calls will be answered here in Canada.
Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, Globalive Wireless Management Corporation, Globalive Communications Corporation
Can I speak to this one for a second?
We have two call centres and both are in Canada. We believe that an important part of what will distinguish our customers' experience from that of customers of other players is offering Canadian call centres that are familiar with the customers' issues where they live, and can better address their issues.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Thank you.
Mr. Lockie, you did get foreign capital. Your investor is an offshore investor. I hear there's a problem in attracting foreign capital, but you attracted a good investor.
Both of you seem to be doing well. Both companies seem to be doing well in terms of putting together a good marketing strategy. You have your niche markets, you have your capital. Shouldn't we just wait to see how you do before we open up the market? If you don't need us to open up the market, then we won't.
Chief Executive Officer, Public Mobile
I guess our position is a little bit different, in that we believe the market in fact has been opened up for WIND; it hasn't been for us.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
That brings me to my next question. I still haven't--
Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Globalive Communications Corporation, Director of the Board of Globalive Wireless Management Corporation, Globalive Communications Corporation
Could I answer the first one? What I would suggest is there should be an appreciation for the terms under which that capital was invested. It was a very significant challenge to attract investment within the constraints of the existing regime.
You're right, we were successful. But what we were successful in doing was securing very expensive short-term bridge capital that was intended to be replaced at the earliest possible opportunity in the operating company. Moments later the credit crisis hit.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
But Mr. Lockie, you invested knowing what the rules were.
Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Globalive Communications Corporation, Director of the Board of Globalive Wireless Management Corporation, Globalive Communications Corporation
Absolutely.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
So you're taking a risk. You're an entrepreneur.
You're giving us two messages here. You're talking about the entrepreneurial spirit, and then you're saying we invested under certain conditions, and now we have to change the rules because we don't think we can make it if the rules aren't changed.
Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Globalive Communications Corporation, Director of the Board of Globalive Wireless Management Corporation, Globalive Communications Corporation
We think that in order to build out to our fullest potential and to create the most legitimate effective competitor to the incumbents, we require capital on reasonable terms.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
Do you believe that the foreign ownership rules should be struck down for the big players as well--Bell, Telus, Rogers?
Chief Executive Officer, Public Mobile
Are you asking me, sir?
Look, I'm not going to speak out of both sides of my mouth. I think the reality is--I'll say it again--that there should be a set of rules and they should be applied fairly and evenly across the board to all players.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
So the cap on foreign capital should be erased as well?
Chief Executive Officer, Public Mobile
Look, I think the question really is a question of how and when. I think that right now if you change the foreign ownership rules and allow them to take on more capital, the reality is they don't need capital. They're sitting on billions of dollars. They pay out dividends. They don't need capital.
Actually, the impact it will have on them is not one of bringing on foreign capital. It's a question of will some of them want to sell to a foreign entity? That's a very different issue.
Chief Executive Officer, Public Mobile
That goes to some of the questions that other people are bringing up.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
But we have the CRTC to regulate the content aspect, and presumably, regardless of who owns Bell--whether they are foreigners or Canadians--they will have to respect the rules of the CRTC with respect to broadcast content. So I don't see the problem.
Chief Executive Officer, Public Mobile
Well, if you don't, sir, I think that's great. I'm not sure that I see a problem.
What I'm saying is that the rules should be applied.... We should understand what the rules are and we should apply them fairly and evenly for all players in the industry.
Liberal
Francis Scarpaleggia Liberal Lac-Saint-Louis, QC
My last question is I still don't understand why both companies are really in the same boat in the sense that you're saying you have not had the same benefits as Globalive. You say that with the rules, somehow Globalive has benefitted in a way that you have not been able to benefit from the regulatory regime. I still don't see that. How are you similar, how are you different, and why are you not getting the same treatment as Globalive?