Hon. Gerard Pelletier (Minister of Communications):

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should as always look at the whole issue. It is quite true that the Quebec minister made that statement, two days ago, but a year ago he suggested: "There is only one thing left to do, that is going before the courts. The federal Minister of Communications should either remain silent or bring us before the courts". And a year before that he had stated: "The courts will never settle the issue". So the hon. member should choose which of those successive viewS of the minister we should consider.

Mr. Pelletier (Hochelaga):

Mr. Speaker, although I was not referring to his party, the hon. member stated his party respects provincial jurisdictions. I hope they also respect federal jurisdiction. I would indicate once more he does not seem to be well aware of the whole matter. We did not initiate the move that led to this conflict. If he looks at the facts, he will see that as regards that lower St. Lawrence territory the CRTC had already issued a broadcasting license to Mr. Dionne. It was only months later that the Quebec board, acting in our view outside the scope of its powers and jurisdiction, licensed another broadcaster. So the Quebec board went against the CRTC, legally empowered to issue licenses.

Hon. Gerard Pelletier (Minister of Communications):

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member quoted the wrong federal-provincial conference. If he had referred to the 1973 federal-provincial conference, he would have noted that I had then warned the provinces that to negotiate with the provincial representatives, I could not accept as a condition the suspension of a legislation passed by Parliament which moreover the hon. member was called to vote on as I and the other members of the House did. It was clearly established that the legislation would be enforced and if it was deliberately violated, the government would not hesitate to take the necessry steps. I repeated also in the correspondence tabled in the House over a year ago the same warning about the fact that we had no doubt that under the legislation, Quebec has acted ultra vires. I think that it would be ungracious for my Quebec colleague to act as if he was surprised, since he was warned three years ago. I think that everyone will find the delay reasonable.

Hon. Gerard Pelletier (Minister of Communications):

An evaluation of previous experience with electrical transmission lines of similar high voltage extending into the Montreal and Quebec urban areas indicates that television and radio reception in the vicinity of the new transmission lines to the United States should not be significantly affected if affected at all.

Hon. Gerard Pelletier (Minister of Communications):

1. Yes, the contract was issued on January 30, 1974.

2. The study was initiated by the Educational Technology Program Branch of the Department of Communications to assist the Provinces in the field of educational technology. The overall objective of the Wired City Simulation Project is to evaluate and demonstrate the techniques, economics and utility of integrating two way interactive video communications into the education process. The Simulation Laboratory will provide the capability of evaluating several prototype systems.

3. The Department of Communications does not have this type of Laboratory and it is not available anywhere else in Canada.

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