Industry committee  One example would be that if you, as a holder of a mobile service, decided to switch providers and they refused to port your phone number—because you know we all like to keep our phone numbers when we change cellphones—that is something that would be subject to an AMP. There are examples at the wholesale level, at which carriers are to provide a certain quality of service to the smaller players in interconnecting them into central office facilities.

Industry committee  It means “administrative monetary penalty”.

Industry committee  Mr. Chairman, the CRTC currently has a proceeding before it called Let's Talk TV where it's looking at a wide range of issues, including bundling, so we really can't comment on what may or may not happen in that area because the decision of the commission has not yet been rendered, even though the public hearings have concluded.

Industry committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman, the administrative monetary penalty regime is a civil remedy and it's on a continuum. The purpose is to promote compliance with the regulations and the act, and, in that way, penalties up to $10 million for the first violation and up to $15 million for the second violation are still substantial amounts for any corporation to incur.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Christianne Laizner. I'm the senior general counsel and executive director of the legal sector of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. With me today is Chris Seidl, who is the CRTC's executive director of telecommunications.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As a government agency, we keep our records for the prescribed period of time, at least seven years.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We think the provisions of the proposed legislation are very good provisions that will certainly give us an ability to investigate the violations under this piece of legislation, which would be the failure to register notices. Other than that, our role is to implement the policy that the government puts into place through its legislation.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think we could work with the legislation, if it's passed, and then we'll see how it works.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Under the Telecommunications Act, under the regime, it is the commission that makes decisions as to the amount of penalty. My colleague, the chief compliance and enforcement officer, would be conducting the investigation into the complaints as she has indicated.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The factors that are taken into consideration by the commission in making decisions are listed in their policy 2007-48, and every case is considered under its own facts. The parties that have been brought before under notice of violation can make representations within 30 days, and those are considered by the commission.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The registry will contain the information that's required in Bill C-23. That information would be the name of the calling service provider, the name of the group or person on whose behalf the services are made. It will not contain the phone numbers, but at the time that the registration notice is filed, there's an obligation on both the calling service provider and the person or group who entered into an agreement with the calling service provider to provide the CRTC with their name, their address, and their telephone number, and a copy of the identification that the CRTC has authorized them to use.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If a political party or a candidate uses their own internal volunteers or their own employees to conduct live calls, they are not required to file a registration notice with the CRTC.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The proposed legislation requires the CRTC to publish the registration notices within 30 days after the polling date. The registration notices that have been filed with us would be publicly available, and presumably if somebody received calls and doesn't see the registration notice, they would be able to contact us with a complaint.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We could undertake to provide that information to the chairman within that same timeline if that's acceptable.