Industry committee  I think that provision is really important, but it doesn't just apply to set-aside providers. I think that should apply to all providers. If we are making sure that spectrum is available, it is with the assumption that those communities are going to be served. Whether that's 4G o

Industry committee  Good afternoon. My name is Laura Tribe. I am the executive director of OpenMedia. I'm speaking to you today from Ottawa, as a guest on the traditional unceded territories of the Algonquin nation. Today, as we discuss the fate of Canada's communication systems, I'd ask you to re

Industry committee  Yes, you are reading that correctly. I think when we're looking at rural Canada, users are already maxed out. They are getting the highest speeds available to them and have been the entire time, whereas in urban centres it's been much easier to call in and increase their plans, t

Industry committee  I think if we're looking at options like structural separation, which was brought up earlier, we are very supportive of trying to ensure that competing business interests don't interfere with good quality or service. That's an option. I think if we're looking at something like n

Industry committee  I'm sorry, my connection cut out for a second. Can you repeat the last part of your question?

Industry committee  I think there's a lot of room for more support for competition from the CRTC. We haven't seen the results on things like MVNOs, on wireless, or the support for smaller providers that we would like to make sure that there is a sufficiently competitive marketplace.

Industry committee  I think you are right that we need a paradigm shift around this, but I think it's also well under way. This is the second time we've been invited to speak before this committee this year about the need for connectivity and bridging the digital divide in Canada. I think the conver

Industry committee  Thanks. I think the Internet code of conduct has been very helpful in providing guiding principles as to what customers should expect, but very similarly to things like the wireless code of conduct, I think they are guidelines that are not really being enforced to the extent tha

Industry committee  I see we're almost out of time, so in short I would say all of the above. I think we need to see stronger penalties—including financial—for the companies, but really for customers not to have to track every violation they see individually and have to be able to be their own lawye

Industry committee  Thanks. I love to talk net neutrality. As for where net neutrality stands in Canada right now, the CRTC has made a number of strong decisions that support net neutrality as far as content not being prioritized over other content is concerned. It is up for debate, in the review o

Industry committee  Thanks. I will put more in writing to you, but I think the biggest thing that can be done today that would make a big difference to people who are on the verge of being connected or not is to remove data caps on cellphones. We know that in low-income families cellphones are ofte

Industry committee  Yes, absolutely, I think that public funding being required is a huge piece. I can only speak for OpenMedia's community, but I think that's why we've seen a lot of frustration when government funding consistently goes to companies like Bell that are using rural Canada as a pawn.

Industry committee  I am not an expert on the Lobbying Act or the practices there, so I can't speak to lobbyists themselves, but I think, as a public interest advocate who is working really hard to get the voices of our community to all of you, to people in positions of power, it is amazing to watch

Industry committee  You will all know better than I do how difficult it is to get multi-layered government projects aligned, particularly with elections, when governments can change in different cycles at different times. There are different interests that come in. However, for starters, this is an

Industry committee  Yes, one of the biggest concerns that we hear, particularly during the pandemic, is that people are looking.... I think, as Mr. Kaplan-Myrth referred to earlier, people are upping their speeds or upping their needs, but they're not necessarily seeing that result in the final prod