Industry committee  Madam Chair, I think that probably is a question that has to be directed to the CRTC, given its role and given that it is kind of in the middle of these proceedings, so maybe I will just make that suggestion.

Industry committee  I just want to say that the government allocated—I forget the exact amount—about $450 million to research institutions and universities to ensure that, during the pandemic, they can continue their work in this important area of research related to COVID-19. I'd be pleased to shar

Industry committee  Madam Chair, I shall probably have to get back to the honourable member with a table or something. Money has been provided to that program for medical countermeasures as part of the response to COVID-19, and there's funding in there for other projects—automotive is an example tha

Industry committee  Well, Madam Chair, the strategic innovation fund amalgamated.... It's a new fund, but it took over, if you like, a number of existing previous programs. The fund consists of both permanent funding and time-limited funding. When the government has an urgent priority, the governm

Industry committee  Madam Chair, as part of the work we've done on affordability, we have certainly taken a pretty close look at all the plans in the market. I believe my colleague Mark Schaan, who is one of the assistant deputy ministers in strategic and innovation policy and who played a key rol

Industry committee  I see that—

Industry committee  I can follow up on that—

Industry committee  We obviously aim to go as quickly as possible. I think it will depend to some extent on how quickly we get applications in and the quality of the applications when they come in. As the minister noted at the last meeting, there is a pathfinding service whereby we work with appli

Industry committee  Maybe I'll turn to my colleague Éric, who runs the broadband program, just to see whether or not we received any. Again, I'm not aware one way or the other.

Industry committee  Just as a general reflection, we're very conscious of that as a concern that parliamentarians and communities have. That's something we can certainly pay attention to. We would certainly envisage projects that would be supported by the large telcos. Indeed, some of the very lar

Industry committee  I think the objective with the funds that have been put in place today is to cover, for all intents and purposes, the entire country, except for the areas that are extraordinarily difficult to reach, that remaining 2%. I think at the end of the day the objective is going to be, i

Industry committee  Madam Chair, I'm happy to provide thoughts, generally, about this issue of balancing, as the minister discussed. I won't add any colour commentary to the Governor in Council statement because I think the statement, obviously, stands on its own. The CRTC is undertaking its own rec

Industry committee  We're going to wait to see what the CRTC does in its reconsideration of the matter. As I said, I think the GIC statement probably has to stand on its own.

Industry committee  Madam Chair, I don't have the specific numbers available. What I can say is that we're in active discussions with the automotive companies. The government is clearly committed to the future of the automotive sector. I think that message has been given loud and clear. In terms of

Industry committee  Again, you would have to ask the minister this question. Across Canada, the Internet service providers on the ground include major players, but also small players. The decision was made to proceed in this manner. We believe that it's better to move forward based on this reality