I would just like to point out at this time that I am not a regular member of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. I usually sit on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. However, I have been taking part in meetings on the foreign ownership of telecommunications firms. Quebec's cultural community is very concerned about this threat to Quebec and Canadian cultural content.
In the field of telecommunications and broadcasting, the reality is that whomever controls access controls content. While you may disagree with me, Mr. Goldberg, this principle also applies to satellites. We can talk about that more later. Mr. Bureau and Mrs. Émond eloquently described the era of convergence to us. We also live in an era of wireless communications and smartphones. Wireless smartphones, as we have observed, have become broadcasting devices. I could give you several examples, but I will limit myself to one.
Bell, a Canadian company, is currently running an advertisement for 16 free applications and cultural choices, such as access to CBC Radio, Macleans and CBC Hockey. Bell is also offering videos and radio stations through Disney instead of Astral. It could have made the Canadian choice of offering Astral, but instead, opted for the American choice of Disney. And Bell is a Canadian company. Imagine if it were an American company or if Canada did not have control over the situation.
You have to see that expanding foreign ownership of telecommunications poses a real threat to the broadcasting community. Increasingly, telecommunications and broadcasting are becoming one and the same thing. During the course of these hearings, a number of people have told me that even though the discussion has moved away from opening up the field of telecommunications to foreign ownership, we still need to consider solutions to this problem. Increasingly, telecommunications devices are becoming broadcasting devices. As you noted, Mr. Bureau, this issue needs to be discussed within the context of another study.
I'd like to hear your views on this subject. As the former head of the CRTC, I'm sure you are aware that the new head of the commission told committee members that the telecommunications, broadcasting and communications acts should be combined into one piece of legislation. You also said that a communications department should be created. Even without the threat of foreign ownership, should we not be doing an in-depth analysis and proposing some similar solutions?