Evidence of meeting #26 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was prices.
A video is available from Parliament.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
I believe [Technical difficulty—Editor] we had a role in it.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Okay. This was a statement from your own company from only a few months ago.
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
In the context of supporting facilities-based builds....
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Right, okay.
Can you please provide us with a comprehensive list of all the overlapping services that Shaw and Rogers currently provide?
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
Off the top, it would be primarily in the wireless sector. There is very little overlap on the wired LAN side, no overlap on the Shaw Direct satellite side, and none, of course, on media, so it would be exclusively, I would think, in wireless and maybe a small amount in the business segment.
Conservative
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
They are both licensed to provide cellular service, which at this point would be Alberta, B.C. and Ontario.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
That's Alberta, B.C. and Ontario. All other things being equal, if you two become one, then those markets would have one fewer option for the customers in wireless. Is that correct?
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Do you believe that less competition leads to higher prices?
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
I believe that you need a dynamic, competitive environment to continue to support a dynamic, competitive pricing structure.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Okay, dynamic and competitive will give us dynamic and competitive. Will going from four to three equal dynamic and competitive?
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
It absolutely can. We've seen this in other markets, including looking south, where there essentially has been a move from four to three in the course of the last year and, by any objective standard, the U.S. market is both competitive and affordable.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Do you think the existence of a fourth player in many of the markets, or the biggest markets in the country, has brought prices down?
President, Shaw Communications Inc.
Over the course of time, all the carriers have recognized that, in order to grow penetration and move into the 5G world, there has been opportunity to adjust price.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Unfortunately, Mr. Poilievre.... Did you want to ask them to table those documents?
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Yes. I did put you on the spot, Mr. McAleese. If you and Rogers could table a full list of all overlapping services that the two companies have, that would be great.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Thank you. If you could make sure that gets to the clerk, we'll make sure it is circulated among committee members.
Our next round of questions goes to MP Jaczek.
You have the floor for five minutes.
Liberal
Helena Jaczek Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the representatives from Rogers and Shaw for being here.
I think we are all wrestling with the fundamental question of what Mr. Natale said in his opening statement, that this acquisition of Shaw by Rogers is going to lead to increased competition. In essence, many of my colleagues have pointed this out. David Olive, in the Toronto Star on Saturday, March 27, said, “Mostly for lack of competition, which this deal would further reduce, Canadians pay some of the highest fees for telecom services in the world.”
Mr. Natale, when you said that this deal would lead to increased competition, who are these competitors?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.
First of all, MP Jaczek, I'd be happy to submit to you the OECD reports, the Wall report and the monitoring report, which all say that Canada fares very well with respect to the other 37 countries in the OECD and that we're right in the middle of the pack with respect to affordability and pricing, yet we have one of the most difficult countries in the world to provide telecom services across, as a whole—
Liberal
Helena Jaczek Liberal Markham—Stouffville, ON
Yes, Mr. Natale, could you just tell me who [Technical difficulty—Editor] increased competition?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Rogers Communications Inc.
First of all, if you look at the consumer in western Canada, for example, you see the scale of Shaw's fibre footprint, the scale of Rogers [Technical difficulty—Editor] compete more broadly, more intensively in western Canada. More than ever this—