Thank you, witnesses.
I'm going to go very directly to your question, Mr. Lawford, regarding the 2006 policy direction. My understanding is that it forced the CRTC to trust market forces. It was done prematurely, against the advice of the technology panel review, and yet we are left with a decision that is--at least for most objective analysts--confounding.
I'm wondering if the effect of the policy review.... I understand some of your predecessors in terms of the panellists--TekSavvy--didn't really get into this at all. But it surprises me, because I think the origins very much relate to a concern we had as Liberals, when the government under Maxime Bernier decided to rush headlong into this.
Now we have a CRTC whose hands may very well be tied, not able to make decisions--proper decisions that are pro-competitive--or yet alone understand the innovative curve that lies ahead. I have described that probably more bluntly.
Cisco Systems in the United States has made it very clear that in the next four years 90% of the content on the web will be video. This is obviously an emerging problem that the Government of Canada seems unwilling to accept, and decisions made at the last moment to overturn--as they did with Global Live, or in this case--seem to me to be based on rule of thumb rather than any particular regulatory rules that might actually help foster competition.
Your thoughts, Mr. Lawford.