Thank you, Madam Chair. It's good to listen to our colleagues here.
I want to reiterate some of the points made by Mr. Masse. I think they make eminent sense in that I think we would all benefit from reducing the number of meetings devoted to this, as well as relying to the extent possible on written submissions. The reason I say this is that I think it's abundantly clear by now that all the members of this committee are very mindful of Canadians. The welfare of Canadians is something that we care deeply about, whether it comes to cable services or to wireless service as well. I don't think there's any doubt insofar as that is concerned.
However, that being said, as the member who proposed this motion has made clear, this is an issue that the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and ISED will be looking into as well, so the role that our committee can play is really not that significant, in the sense that this is a very technical issue. As much as I understand his intention to bring many witnesses here, the reality with respect to most witnesses is that they can get into the process and get into the guidelines, but by no means would they [Technical difficulty—Editor] the specifics or to share some of the disclosures that would occur here, and that's for good reason. The reason is that, while I understand Mr. Poilievre wants the minister to appear, the minister would not want to prejudice the outcome insofar as the CRTC, the Competition Bureau or ISED are concerned.
I say that this is a technical issue that is best left to those three bodies because, as Mr. Poilievre is fully aware, what will happen as this is examined is that it's very technical.... We have to determine where there is overlap between the services offered by the two companies. In addition to that, they have to specifically look at the various markets in which these services overlap or compete.
As much as I think it's important that we consider this, I would once again emphasize what Mr. Masse has said and work out a compromise where, first of all, we can reduce the number of meetings devoted to this, given the limitations we face in examining this issue and, secondly, if we could [Technical difficulty—Editor] not invite the minister, because obviously he will be in no position to provide us with the information that we all so desperately seek.
Thank you.