To equip ourselves better for this new environment in our domestic context, our agency, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, has just completed what we call our Vision exercise. All companies undertake periodic reviews of their business plans, of their strategic positioning, their views of how they fit in. It was time for the regulator to do the same thing. We believe the results of our exercise will permit us to both adapt to the changing environment, and at the same time, adapt the environment itself, to make it work better for consumers, citizens, and business. As regulators, we must address not only technological change, but the impact these changes have on our responsibilities to preserve our cultural sovereignty in what has become a borderless communications universe.
Corporations have to worry about their bottom line as expressed in financial terms.
Our bottom line is to balance social and economic objectives in the public interest. We believe Canadians will see a different Commission evolving. The old Commission was protectionist in its approach - which fit the requirements of the time. The new CRTC will be much more driven by promoting opportunity to let Canadians show they can compete in the new environment. And our dialogue with consumers, with citizens, with industry, will be broader and more interactive.