Industry committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss recent developments concerning regulation in the telecommunications sector. As Mr. Rajotte mentioned, I'm accompanied today by Richard Taylo

Industry committee  There are two aspects to your question, first with respect to the tests that are being proposed in the variance of the CRTC's decision. One of those tests is a test that we, the Competition Bureau, developed ourselves to assist the CRTC that was looking for an administratively st

Industry committee  Our traditional position, which we've articulated over the years, is that market share is actually not determinative of such matters. Indeed, the Competition Act stipulates that we should not rely on market share to determine the state of competition in a particular marketplace.

Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  We don't protect particular competitors. We're interested in protecting the competitive process. When we look at an issue such as targeted reductions, we would be looking at whether they were going to result in a substantial lessening of competition in the marketplace. The way we

Industry committee  I think there are two different tests going on here. One is the test with respect to forbearance by the CRTC, and that's the test you're referring to—the three-by-three test. Then, a second test included in the same document is our streamline test. With respect to our work in the

Industry committee  No, not that I'm aware of. In the current context, we do not give advice to the minister. Because we took part in the hearing before the CRTC, we recuse ourselves from any discussions about changing the CRTC decision. I'm not at all aware of the minister's analysis.

Industry committee  It could be.

Industry committee  Market share is the first indicator we examine. Then we consider market conditions and rivalry between people. With regard to the abstention process, we proposed to the CRTC that the cost structure be compared. That's what in fact creates the competition dynamic in the market. It

Industry committee  We made a case against that decision during the public hearings. We strongly recommended that the CRTC not adopt this kind of thing. That's our position, because according to our expertise in the area of competition, market share is just the first question to be asked in order t

Industry committee  We have a process of prioritizing the use of our resources. Certainly telecommunications is an area where we believe we'll be prioritizing our work in the coming period of time. We believe we have sufficient resources to deal with those issues.

Industry committee  What part of the document are you referring to?

Industry committee  We did not examine that question. That was not before us. We described and attained what we thought was reasonable in the process before the CRTC. Given the evolution of the market over the past 18 or 24 months, our criterion probably conforms with market conditions and is not ve

Industry committee  It's a step in the right direction, there's no doubt about that. The members of the review panel said that greater reliance should be placed on market forces, on having a well-defined regulatory framework and encouraging effective competition. That is the gist of the recommendati

Industry committee  No. It recommended that power be given to the CRTC for work that remains subject to CRTC powers—