Mr. Speaker, I do not want to waste the House's time, but simply to respond to some of the arguments I have heard to the effect that inclusion of the public interest in this clause might suggest that it does not apply elsewhere.
I would like to simply point out that, when the government amendment states “if it determines that to do so would facilitate the interoperation of Canadian television networks”, I believe that “facilitating the interoperation of Canadian television networks” is also a general mandate of the CRTC. Yet they take the trouble to mention facilitating interoperation.
Since a specific mandate is given, which is one of the seven elements of the Canadian telecommunications strategy, I find—and I believe there are a number of us that do—that it is not enough to state that interoperation must be facilitated, in areas affecting services to individuals in a changing world of communications. It is also important to look after the public interest.
If there is a risk to the public interest, there is also one for interoperation. We do not want to suggest that, elsewhere, it is not necessary to facilitate interoperation of networks.
I believe that this amendment is fully justified and I would appreciate it if the government side were also concerned about the public interest.