Mr. Speaker, situations do arise occasionally. Fortunately it is not that often when we consider how much development is occurring at the present time in essentially rewiring our urban areas with fibre optic facilities, in many cases replacing the cables that were already there or providing additional cable services, or, and this has sometimes been even more problematic, providing the cells for wireless service in prominent locations in enough places in a locality. The policy that has been followed is one that tries to co-operate as fully as possible with the municipalities, both in terms of obtaining access and corresponding with local concerns with respect to zoning and other considerations.
I think at the end of the day the necessity that every citizen has to the availability of telecommunications services is one that takes a high level of precedence. Where it is not possible to reconcile, sometimes it is necessary that access be determined by other means.
In a municipality if there is the need to put in significant upgrades to services, I think it would be a very short period of time before citizens became sufficiently demanding of those services. Municipal governments as well would be anxious to find ways to satisfy that.
It is also important to remember that the cost of those services needs to be taken into account in our competitive position. Probably every municipality in Canada is always looking for new ways to earn some revenue, but it is important that we not build on to the cost of telecommunications services too many additional charges which then render our costs higher than those elsewhere, not just between municipalities but between Canada and the U.S. where that cost advantage is so important to attracting investment.