Mr. Speaker, I have a point of order. At this stage of the report, I tabled two amendments that were not approved by the Chair and I would like to make my case before the House. One of these amendments concerns clause 1 and the other concerns clause 8.
I wanted to include a definition of “basic telecommunications services”, as this expression is used for the first time in the Telecommunications Act. There is a definition of “telecommunications services” but not of “basic telecommunications services”. This new expression appears for the first time in Bill C-17.
I wanted to amend clause 8 to include a definition, specifying that this definition also applies to the telecommunications services required by any person who wishes to participate fully in Canadian society. This is not adding anything new to the objectives of the Telecommunications Act as stated in section 7 of the act.
I respectfully submit that my amendments should be accepted as they are required because there is no definition of what constitutes basic telecommunications services and the intent underlying my amendments is in keeping with the objectives of the policy stated in section 7 of the Telecommunications Act.