Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to my colleague from Quebec City that it is probably a waste of time sending messages to the member in question. We better just forget that.
I would like to return to two aspects of her remarks I consider very important. What the Conservatives are in fact doing is stripping the CRTC over time of pretty well all of its regulatory powers over telecommunications. However, their aim, from what we hear, is to permit increased competition in the areas of culture and telecommunications.
In the area of culture, competition is already fierce. We have to understand what this competition means. Films compete with theatre, which in turn competes with television, and so on. All forms of culture are competitive at the moment. Any claim that there is no competition and that deregulation is essential, as for example in telecommunications, is totally crazy.
I would like my colleague to speak to this, as competition is absolutely fierce in the area of culture. In Quebec, for example, cultural output is prolific, and people have a choice, especially in the major centres. Things are somewhat different in the regions, and people may find it more difficult there. But cultural offerings are widely available and are bound to be increasingly so. That is the wish of the people who oversee cultural output.
I would like my colleague to return to, among other things, the matter of telephone service, because deregulation in this area has a major impact on the regions. This is being said everywhere, and she was present at our meeting in Rimouski where seniors told us that the telephone is vital for them and that deregulation could mean an increase in rates they might not necessarily be able to afford.