Thank you, Mr. Chair. Madam, gentlemen, good morning and welcome.
I will continue in the “conservative” vein by sharing a survey that came to the following conclusion: “Most Canadians (68%) believe that broadcasting and communications are too important to our national security and cultural sovereignty to allow foreign control of Canadian companies in these sectors...”
This was a survey conducted by Harris/Décima, and it shows a somewhat more conservative side of Canadians in the fact that they do not want foreign owners to have control of our companies. However, on a slightly less conservative note, the survey also concluded, and I quote, once again: “...that 64% of Canadians are more likely to vote for candidates who oppose giving control of Canadian media to foreign interests...”
It would appear that Canadians are against foreign control of our media for various reasons. Today's meeting is rather special because representatives of Globalive and of Public Mobile are together here testifying before us. However, there hasn't been much said about what has happened. That is why the committee was struck.
My question is for the Globalive representatives. When you bought $442 million worth of spectrum, were you aware of the fact that the CRTC could block the transaction?