Industry Committee on Oct. 31st, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Bonjour à tous.

This is the 11th meeting of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. It's again on e-commerce and electronic payments.

I'll briefly introduce the witnesses before us. From Xplornet, we have John Maduri, the chief executive officer. From Globalive, we have Ante Rupcic, vice-president of core network. From UPS Canada, we have Gordon Reed, director of customer solutions. From Google, we have Jacob Glick, Canada policy counsel.

I understand that Mr. Glick has to leave at 5 p.m. So after the opening statements, if you have any questions for Mr. Glick, make sure that you ask those first.

I'm going to follow the order on the agenda in front of us, and I'll begin with Mr. Maduri. You have six minutes for opening remarks. I have to stay close to that timeframe, so please don't take it personally if I cut you off.

Mr. Maduri, go ahead, for six minutes.

[John Maduri, Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet]

Thank you. There should be a presentation in front of everyone, in both official languages. I'll call out the panels at the top left, if I could, just to lead you through it.

First, who are we? We are the leading provider of broadband to rural Canada. We're a national provider. We have customers in every market in this country. The CRTC annual monitoring report, which basically takes a tally of all of the key statistics in the telecom industry, indicates that 83% to 85% of Canadians will receive broadband high-speed Internet through wired technology—DSL, cable, and fibre. The balance will receive broadband service through wireless or satellite technology. In essence, that is the market we focus on. That's the market we serve.

On panel 3, just to give you a little bit more background on our company, our goal and mission is to bridge and end the digital divide. Our expected time frame to do that is 2012. We use 4G—fourth generation—wireless and satellite broadband technology. In fact, I'm just two weeks from having returned from Moscow and Kazakhstan, where we launched our first high throughput, fourth generation satellite.

The company has roughly $400 million in private capital, in addition to the $400 million that we have secured to support the leases on the new satellite. One of the key messages I'll leave you with is that this is a business that has been predominantly driven by private capital.

On panel 4, the question we often get is, will Canadians living in rural communities need broadband, if given the opportunity? How important is it to them? The message I will leave you with today is that broadband high-speed Internet service is an absolute fundamental to what we are talking about here today. It's a building block for e-commerce. What clearly matters to rural Canadians is 100% reach and 100% availability. I would also offer that urban Canadians should be as concerned about the ability of rural Canadians to get access to broadband. Let's remember that a significant portion of this country's GDP actually originates in rural and remote regions of the country.

As panel 5 indicates, we do have many studies and examples, but I pulled one that is relevant to anyone living in the rural regions surrounding the city of Ottawa. We built out the rural regions around the city in 2008. A study was conducted by Leonore Evans of Carleton University. The statistics you see on page 5, frankly, are quite conservative. They indicate that 75% of business respondents said access to high-speed Internet had improved sales and profitability, 15% of all respondents in the business sector said they would be forced to relocate if they didn't have access to quality high-speed Internet, and 20% of non-business owning respondents indicated they would not be able to continue working for their current employer if they didn't have the capacity to telecommute. That is just one example. We have many examples across this country where we are being invited to participate in digital partnerships very similar to what happened here in Ottawa, with similar results.

On panel 6, there is a lot of discussion or noise out there about spectrum auctions, more so in the context of urban cellular competition. The message I want to bring to you today is that it's an absolutely critical discussion to getting wireless broadband service into rural communities. We have everything we need as an industry or sector to get to 100% broadband reach. We have fourth generation wireless in satellite technologies. We've been able to demonstrate a track record of raising private capital. We have a business model that fits the needs of rural communities. Again, the key outstanding item to address and bridge the digital divide is spectrum.

On panel 7, I will give you an example of this. This is the Toronto licence. Spectrum radio frequencies are divided into licences. This is just one example. It's a tier 4 licence. In essence, the challenge we face is rural providers. The area that is in blue is the rural, low-density areas that surround the city of Toronto. Green and yellow represents urban and suburban development. In today's world, with the rules that exist for spectrum options, Xplornet would have to purchase 94% of the total population here to get a 6% share, representing the market that we choose to serve, the rural areas.

One of the challenges today is that rural and urban areas are combined in the way that licenses are defined. What that ultimately means is that it's almost virtually impossible for us to acquire licensed spectrum, which is an absolute necessity for delivering wireless broadband.

Turning to panel 8, one of the key messages or learnings we've had over the last six years in this industry is that rural Canadians, when given the chance to access high-speed Internet, use that capability in the same manner and to the same extent as urban Canadians. Today our customers in rural regions of this country use 18 gigabytes of monthly downloading. That's the measure, the statistic of activity, and it's very similar to what urban Canadians use with DSL, cable, and other technologies. To be clear, we're not in the mobile business; we're in the fixed business. So customers are using roughly the same amount of data that they use in the urban environment.

Going to panel 9, the ask that we've made of Industry Canada, of this government, is to create rules that would allow private operators to access spectrum for rural high-speed Internet service. We have two simple requests. One is to separate or partition licences into urban and rural, and the second is to introduce competitive measures that would ensure that the largest players in the industry can't scoop or capture all of the spectrum.

In closing, we see two paths for the rural regions of this country. We believe there are some simple and practical fixes to the issue of spectrum for rural providers. With those changes made, we will have the key elements that we need to deliver the CRTC's target of 5-megabit service before 2015. In fact, we believe we can deliver that by 2013, and then we'll be in a position, confidently, to turn our attention to awareness, adoption, and advantage. That means how we gain advantage from high-speed Internet, the ability to focus our efforts on digital literacy, and fundamentals such as the availability of PCs in every home and ICT adoption in small- to medium-size business.

Frankly, these are issues that are not just rural but urban as well.

If we choose to ignore rural broadband in the upcoming spectrum auction, our concern is that we'll continue to do more of what we've done over the last five years and the issue of how to close the digital divide will remain. We'll be discussing spectrum and still be in the same place three to five years from now.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Mr. Maduri.

Now, on to Mr. Rupcic for six minutes, please.

[Ante Rupcic, Vice-President, Core Network, Globalive Communications Corporation]

Thank you very much.

The name is Ante Rupcic, and I'm with Wind Mobile.

Wind Mobile is a relatively new market entrant. We are the leading new-entrant mobile 3G and 3G+ provider. We have service in all the key cities: Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. We keep expanding our coverage. Our focus up until now has been on coverage and providing some key services, including mobile broadband.

I'm here today to talk about mobile and mobile commerce in particular. Let me start by talking about some general trends. The future of mobile is about applications. There is going to be an application for just about everything. The mobile app market is clearly one of the fastest-growing consumer markets ever.

For mobile commerce in particular, markets in Japan and South Korea, for example, show us some of the possibilities—and I'll share some examples with you shortly. Mobile Internet shopping in Japan exceeds $10 billion annually, and there's an expectation that 15 billion mobile ticketing transactions will happen in western countries by 2014.

Essentially, your mobile phone will become your wallet. Of course, it's already your camera, your computer, your reader, and your game console. The possibilities for the mobile phone are endless.

Wind Mobile believes that in the next three years, every retail business should have a mobile application or site to sustain or grow market share. The caveat, or the important point to focus on, is that to develop mobile presence, you must consider some critical factors: intuitive navigation, accurate search capability, a pleasing design, enticing merchandising, and easy and frictionless checkout when you buy things with your phone.

Currently, Wind Mobile sells content through its mobile portal. We sell to all subscribers, and we bill on a pay-per-use basis. We deal in all sorts of content types: ring tones, full music tracks, wallpaper, and games. We're looking at video clips now and songs. We are considering applications in TV streaming. We intend to continue that offering by bringing in as many partners as we can. We have something called the service delivery platform, which essentially enables ease of charging and revenue share between our back-end systems and our new partners. We offer our partners a standard-charging API to connect any of these new partners. This ease of connection will facilitate new music, new games, and new applications from all of our different partner networks. It will also facilitate micro-purchases of many types.

The other area we're looking at very diligently is near field communications, or NFC, which will facilitate the mobile wallet. Currently, there is an initiative called EnStream, which is an M-commerce consortium between Bell, Telus, and Rogers, and we are going to be invited into that consortium.

We believe firmly that industry coordination is a must, because it's about standardization and end-to-end ease of use. There are challenges with any technology. With NFC, we see new SIM cards, or identity cards, being required. We see new devices with specific chips and new applications. This is ideal for any point of sale with NFC, and currently we're discussing this with a number of venders. The other advantages are over-the-air credit, debit, prepaid, and loyalty cards. You get coupons and promotions and all sorts of gifting opportunities for mobiles.

The other area that we're looking at now is QR/2D codes and scanners. Essentially, you point your phone's camera at a 2D bar code, and you instantly take yourself as a consumer to extended information: websites, video content, maps, social media, and contact information. The consumer does not need to type a thing. It's a very user-friendly engagement. It also facilitates on-the-move bargain-hunting and price comparison. Once you scan your 2D code, you can compare whatever's on the Internet.

You can shop with these 2D codes. For example, when I was in South Korea a little while back, I walked into a subway. On the subway wall, there was a 2D grocery market with different grocery items with 2D bar codes. You take your phone and you take pictures of the codes you want, or the fruit or vegetables you want to buy, and that gets itemized in your checkout. You go and buy it on your phone, and it gets delivered to your home by the time you get there. So it's a very interesting example of how to utilize 2D to get all of the things you want.

With M-coupon and M-ticket, you can see the possibilities there. Essentially, you buy a coupon or a ticket with a code that appears on your mobile screen. You go to the entertainment venue where you want to use the coupon or a ticket, and there is a scanner that you point your phone screen at, and your coupon is validated.

As for M-banking, there's a good example of this in North America. I have a colleague who is involved in this initiative. Essentially you can take a picture of a cheque you've received and deposit it remotely. It's a Charles Schwab initiative. It shows you the power of the mobile phone, the mobile screen, and the interesting aspect of mobile banking.

The other aspect that will make this a very powerful formula is mobile local search and location. Location-based services are being used to improve communications and create stronger ties among individuals, communities, and local merchants.

For example, Foursquare is an application that allows you to check in through your mobile phone or reveal your geographical location. Once the application knows your geographical location, retailers can take advantage of that information and provide you with coupons, freebies, and things that are relevant to your current location. It's a very powerful time-based, location-based capability.

To summarize, some of the key challenges for mobile commerce include availability of devices to support NFC. We are in a particular band called AWS, and there are different devices with different bands supported. For our particular application we need AWS-supported devices. Secure payment infrastructure is key: you don't want users to be financially crushed when they use their mobile phone for commerce. Retailers need to embrace this as an enabler. Consumer trust and education are key. You want your consumers to feel comfortable using this and to trust this capability. And of course there's the task of optimizing all commerce sites for mobile screens, given the size of the screen you're using.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you very much, Mr. Rupcic.

Now we'll go to Mr. Reed for six minutes, please.

[Gordon Reed, Director, Customer Solutions, UPS Canada]

My name is Gordon Reed. I am the director of customer solutions for UPS Canada.

Over the last 22 years, I've worked with Canadian companies, helping them to become competitive both within Canada and globally, from the one-man business to some of the largest companies in the world. Technology is putting more power in the hands of both Canadian businesses and consumers. Businesses can now target markets beyond their backyard, and consumers now have greater accessibility and choice in purchasing goods and services regardless of their physical location.

From UPS's perspective—not as a participant in selling of goods over the Internet but as a company that provides technology and a delivery network to assist others to become successful—Canada is at a critical point with e-commerce. Online sales offer Canada accessibility to worldwide markets and the opportunity to make ourselves one of the most relevant players in global commerce.

I'm going to take the next few minutes to outline, from UPS's perspective, Canada's current adoption of e-commerce, how to increase engagement by Canadian businesses and consumers, the future of e-commerce, and how we can ensure that Canada stays ahead of the curve.

In Canada, we are seeing increased adoption by large companies as well some small- to medium-size enterprises. While some small businesses are increasing their adoption and engagement of e-commerce, we have a long road ahead. If Canada is going to be serious in supporting e-commerce growth, it will be important to engage, educate, and support small businesses in taking this step. We must encourage e-commerce adoption rates and help turn Canada into the powerhouse it can be. As the markets evolve and expand, this is good for all of us, creating jobs here in Canada while exposing our strengths and ingenuity to the world.

So what's standing in the way? Adopting e-commerce can create more work initially for a business until processes are in place. Businesses must be able to effectively handle order fluctuations, return requests, and delivery inquiries. They may feel overwhelmed with all of the back-end resources that need to be set up and with the unknown number of inquiries they will receive, potentially from around the world and in multiple languages. Because of this, many end up shying away from moving towards online sales.

Another barrier is the fear of going global. They may be afraid that sending goods across the border would cause delays or add unexpected additional costs, thereby affecting the service and experience of the end customer. According to feedback from a recent UPS survey, small- to medium-size enterprises indicate that one of the biggest barriers to engaging in global trade is the time it takes to learn how to sift through all of the paperwork that comes from shipping and communicating outside of Canada.

So how can we cut through the red tape? To increase adoption of e-commerce sales, we need to communicate and demonstrate the benefits to businesses and consumers of selling and buying online. Suppliers and governments must be committed to supporting businesses as they embark in this new area. For example, UPS has invested in technology infrastructure to help support e-commerce. We've developed free APIs or online tools for businesses to enhance the functionality of their websites while reducing inbound calls and taking away the uncertainty of shipping within Canada or around the world. Companies should be aware of the resources available to them to build their back end e-commerce processes; they don't have to do it all themselves and the cost of outsourcing does not need to be overwhelming.

Regarding the fear of exporting and the paperwork required, education will continue to be critical in this area, along with dealing with knowledgeable partners. Encouraging education and making it easy for Canadian businesses to go global is the responsibility of both Canadian corporations and the government.

Today, the BRIC nations--Brazil, Russia, India and China--make up one quarter of the world's GDP, 42% of the world's population, and 45% cent of the world's labour force. The consulting firm McKinsey estimated that a billion people from these nations will reach middle class standing within 10 years, doubling their spending power to more than $9 trillion. With the right strategy, product offerings, and service options, our small businesses could be very profitable serving these people.

Some critical factors e-commerce leaders have figured out include creating a positive experience for the end customer and managing processes and costs. A major difference between an online customer experience and an in-store one is the lack of personal contact online.

Websites must be easy to navigate and be formatted for the target audience. When the end customer checks out, there should be no surprises in their shopping carts, such as undisclosed administrative fees or shipping fees. Ensuring this is the case not only decreases abandon rates at the time of checkout, but it also improves customer confidence and can help forge a lasting relationship with the business.

We encourage our clients to communicate an accurate date and time of delivery for the package to their customers. This is a best practice in the industry. Especially for an audience with an “I want it now” mentality, the ability to offer time-definite options for the consumer to choose from helps set e-tailers apart and helps them build lasting relationships with their customers.

We also encourage e-tailers to minimize such competitive barriers as charging high fees for shipping. Consumers will look at the total cost of the purchase, including the cost of goods, additional fees, and shipping. This total cost needs to be competitive with traditional commerce in order to allow businesses to grow.

Cost factors for e-tailers are different from those for traditional businesses. Businesses need to better understand their costs and options and market themselves effectively in order to compete in the global market.

One option to help companies attract new or repeat customers is to include free or discounted shipping for high-value purchases, or to give any other kind of volume discount to reward customers for large or repeat purchases. Another option is investing in sustainable business practices and satisfying the demand for eco-friendly products. More often, consumers are looking for a convenient, cost-effective means to address climate change in a real or tangible way. Online green-tailers who have integrated UPS into their websites are able to offer this to customers through access to carbon-neutral shipping.

For larger-volume companies, distribution centres need to be strategically located as close as possible to the density of their customer base. This should be reviewed by companies regularly to allow them to remain competitive as their markets grow.

Hybrid transportation solutions, such as UPS's Trade Direct Cross Border program, will allow larger companies to move shipments in bulk to foreign locations and then enter the transportation system as a domestic movement.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Reed, but that's all the time we have for your statement. Thank you very much.

[Gordon Reed]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

We now go on to Mr. Glick for six minutes, please.

[Jacob Glick, Canada Policy Counsel, Google Inc.]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Happy Halloween, everybody. I hope you'll find today's session a treat. I can assure you there is no trick.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Jacob Glick]

My name is Jacob Glick. I'm Google's Canada policy counsel. I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to participate in your study on e-commerce in Canada. It's an issue that is close to Google's heart.

This topic is a little like Dickens: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times—well, maybe not the worst of times, but the “we could do a lot better of times”. On the one side of the ledger there are some warning signs that Canadian business lacks the digital literacy and engagement critical to today's knowledge economy.

Less than 50% of Canadian businesses have a website, which is much lower than the rate for most other OECD countries. With comparatively fewer Canadian businesses online, it's no surprise that Canadians do a lot less online shopping. A recent study found that 46% of online users in Canada make online purchases. By comparison, in the United States 63% of surfers shopped, as did 75% in the U.K. and 93% in South Korea.

By the way, we didn't plan these remarks ahead of time, but I think we have been quite consistent across the panel.

On the other side of the ledger we find that while Canadian businesses have been slow to get online, Canadians themselves are early adopters and serious surfers of the web. In some ways we are the most wired country in the world. Canadians spend over 40 hours online each month, by some measures, and while Canadian e-commerce stats are nothing to write home or to Parliament about, as the case may be, Canadians have embraced certain forms of e-commerce, such as online banking, at world-leading levels.

The truth is, we need Canadian businesses to show as much enthusiasm for the web as Canadians generally. And why should we care? I think you've heard already from this panel and other participants in your study that Canada's success in the digital economy is critical to enhancing our standard of living and driving jobs, growth, and innovation in the future.

At the macroeconomic level, the Internet drives growth. In the U.K., the Internet accounted for over 7% of GDP in 2010—that's £100 billion—and it will grow to 10% by 2015.

We don't, by the way, have numbers like that in the Canadian context. We can talk a little bit about that during the question period, if you're interested.

Of course, this isn't just about macroeconomic trends. Businesses need consumers, and consumers are increasingly online seeking out products and services. One out of every five searches on Google is for local information, and one out of every three searches on mobile devices is for local information. So there's an incredible nexus with consumers going online looking for local information, not just for global information.

At Google we're doing our part to help Canada and Canadian businesses succeed in this new online world. We've recently launched the Get Your Business Online initiative. It's a program that provides any Canadian business that wants one, free for one year, a customized website and a .ca domain name, as well as a bunch of tools to help them reach customers in Canada and around the world. We have done this in partnership with the Royal Bank of Canada, Rogers, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.

Our focus is to help every small business in Canada get online. Since small business in particular drives jobs and growth, helping them succeed online will catalyze Canadian innovation and growth. The initial results have exceeded our expectations. More than 60,000 businesses have signed up with GYBO, as we call it, and nearly 11,000 have already published their websites.

To reiterate, because of this program, more than 60,000 businesses in Canada have started getting online, and we're not done yet. We're thrilled that businesses from all over Canada, represented by many of the members on this committee, have started getting their businesses online. Research tells us that Canadian businesses that actively use the Internet report overall sales growth of up to 30% year over year.

GYBO removes the primarily psychological obstacles preventing businesses from getting online, namely that they think it's costly and hard to do. We take away the cost component so that there's no excuse, and we make it incredibly easy to do. Canadian businesses are now able to take advantage of the incredible opportunities online to help them realize growth and reach new customers. And every day we hear from businesses that are growing quickly and adding jobs because of their investment online.

The federal government has an important role to play in supporting small business and the growth of e-commerce. And I will close here by offering five strategies for how the federal government can help, as outlined in our joint submission with eBay at the digital economy strategy consultation about 18 months ago, sometime in 2010.

One, work with the private sector to encourage the development of near-ubiquitous, robust, high-speed, and open broadband networks. During the question period I'll be happy to talk about wired and wireless in this context.

Two, avoid over-regulation. Any legislative or regulatory interventions must be carefully targeted and effective, avoiding overly prescriptive or technologically specific measures that could artificially distort or thwart innovation.

Three, enhance confidence in cross-border data flows, recognizing that Canadian business will want to serve customers globally and use services from providers around the world.

Four, view digital literacy as a core skill for all Canadians. This is an issue that I'm particularly passionate about and, again, would be happy to talk about further.

Five, make government a leader in using e-commerce strategies in providing services to the public, including online payment processes, vending auctions, etc. This isn't just about getting government to buy more e-widgets from a particular vendor. It's really about making the business of transacting with governments, as a citizen, as easy as business itself aspires to make commercial transactions.

Let me conclude by saying that technology is developing at an astonishing pace. Duh, you probably knew that one already. But as the digital economy becomes increasingly integral to the standard of living that we enjoy as Canadians, the issues this committee is examining also take on increasing importance. The open Internet is key to that growth, to those jobs, and to innovation in Canada.

Thank you for your time today. I look forward to your questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Mr. Glick. That certainly was a bag full of goodies.

Now we'll go to Mr. Braid for seven minutes please.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And thank you to all the witnesses for being here today. You had some very informative testimony. Thank you.

I'll try to cover everyone with my questions, if I can, starting with you, Mr. Maduri. You indicated that rural broadband was also important for urban Canada. Could you just elaborate a little bit on that?

[John Maduri]

Let's think about the agricultural sector, mining, and oil and gas. How much of our wealth gets created in rural Canada? The opportunity, the need, the imperative to actually be able to communicate digitally with businesses that are in the most remote and rural parts of the country is one example.

Another quick example is to think of this at the residential level. Will we ever get to e-health and all of the nirvana of electronic health records and digital remote diagnosis? Will we ever get there if 15% of Canada doesn't have access to a PC, and doesn't have access to broadband? Will we really leave 10% or 15%—pick your percentage—of this country behind? I think the answer is probably no.

So to the extent that we as a country want to advance on any of these digital avenues, I think it will be critical to make sure that we have 100% broadband available, and 100% of Canadians digitally literate. We have to get to all of them to be successful.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Rupcic, in your presentation I lost count of the number of times you used the word “mobile”. It seems that everything isn't only going to the Internet but also to the mobile Internet, to the handheld Internet. During the course of our study, we've been getting mixed messages with respect to whether Canada is a little bit ahead of or behind the curve when it comes to mobile Internet usage and infrastructure. What are your thoughts on that?

[Ante Rupcic]

I think we're behind the curve. I travel quite a bit and I've been to a number of countries—in Asia and so forth—so I can share with you my travel stories as well as my industry knowledge. While we in this country like to think that we're advanced in a number of ways—and certainly our Internet usage is high and up there—our mobile savvy and, in particular, our mobile commerce are behind the curve. A lot of that has to do with the mobile phone being an acceptable wallet, the framework or the infrastructure for using that device, and consumer trust and acceptability of this device as a tool for mobile commerce.

I think these are the things that are inhibiting us from catching up at this time.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Reed, UPS has obviously had great success in embracing the use of the Internet, the use of e-commerce. In one of your statements, you said that businesses can find other resources to help them build the back-end infrastructure. What are some of those other resources that SMEs can seek?

[Gordon Reed]

From a lot of the available providers, both through transportation companies and logistics companies, there are a tremendous number of technology companies out there that have prepackaged products which customers can quite easily get up and running in starting their businesses. These products may not take them where they ultimately need to go, but they can get them running.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Glick, I congratulate you and Google on your initiative to help SMEs establish their own websites via Get Your Business Online. Is that correct? What inspired you to pursue this initiative?

[Jacob Glick]

Thanks very much for the question.

In Kitchener-Waterloo, roughly 1,100 businesses have signed up and about 250 have published new websites. Those 250 businesses in Kitchener-Waterloo weren't on the Internet before.

For Google, it's really as simple as thinking that our business hinges on the success of all those other businesses, in terms of making sure that they're online and engaged. I say this because when they have a web presence, we know that people will search for them online. We know that people will access their information online, and they'll come to Google first to get to that business. So, for example, when you're out and about with your smart phone, if you know that you can find every business in your community, you're likely to turn to Google Maps and search for them.

So in some ways there was a crass reason for our doing this. We're a business so it wouldn't shock everyone, right? But I think there's also something deeper here, which is that Google in Canada and on a global basis sees the information economy as the foundation for success in any economy, and so we don't think that we need to wait for government to do a program like this. We just wanted to do it.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

You also explained in your remarks that there's a disconnect between individual Canadians embracing the Internet and businesses or SMEs embracing the Internet. Why do you think there's that disconnect?

[Jacob Glick]

The research we've done suggests some of the psychological barriers I mentioned.

The research suggests the following about businesses. One, they think it's too costly to get a domain name and a website. It's not, by the way: it's very cheap, and cheap enough that most businesses can afford it. Two, they think it's too complicated. So we have tried to break through that barrier by creating a customized solution that they could step through very quickly. Three, lots of businesses just don't see the value. They say they're a local business operating on Union Street in Kitchener and ask why they need to be globally relevant. The answer is that we trying to help businesses understand that value proposition by bringing them to that next step, to get them a website and to get them online, so they can see for themselves how their digital storefront is just as important as their physical storefront.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you very much, Mr. Glick, and Mr. Braid.

Now, on to Mr. Thibeault for seven minutes.

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank everyone for coming here today. You're all bringing something to the table that I know we've all been trying to find out over the last few meetings. Before the meeting started, we talked about what my daughter was going to be for Halloween. We couldn't figure out. I bet if we Googled it, we'd find the answer.

Mr. Glick, I've been talking about mobile payments and using Google as a example with its Google Wallet, which launched in the United States, I believe, at the beginning of September. I'm sure you'll correct me if I have that date incorrect. When can we anticipate its launch here in Canada? Maybe you could give us the Coles Notes version of how that technology works.