Good morning everyone. I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting 19 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.
Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website. The webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few of the following rules. Members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of either floor, English or French. Please select the language for which you would like to have interpretation.
For members participating in person, proceed as you usually would when the whole committee is in person in the committee room. Keep in mind directives from the Board of Internal Economy regarding masking and health protocols.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. Those in the room, your microphone will be controlled by the proceedings and verification officer.
A reminder that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. When you are not speaking, your microphone should be on mute. With regard to the speakers list, the committee clerk and I will do our best to maintain the order of speaking for all members, whether you are participating virtually or in person.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee is meeting today to resume its study on the accessibility and affordability of telecommunication services in Canada.
As is my normal practice, and for our witnesses, I will wave the yellow card for when you have 30 seconds remaining in your intervention. I will wave the red card for when your time is up. Please respect the time limits, so that we can get as many questions from our members, and responses from our witnesses.
I'd like to now welcome our guests with us today.
From Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology, we have Barry Field, executive director.
We also have with us Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and chief executive officer of Quebecor Media, and Jean-François Pruneau, president and chief executive officer of Vidéotron.
With that, we will have the witnesses present for seven minutes, and then we'll go to rounds of questions.
Mr. Field, you have the floor for seven minutes.