The Senate Subcommittee on Communications is beginning a year-long probe into regulatory, cultural and consumer issues raised by new communications technology. The committee, chaired by Marie-P. Poulin, a former senior executive of the CBC and founder of the Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal, will focus on the federal regulatory regime regarding broadcast, cable, Internet and telecommunications. It will look at whether the existing regulatory bodies are effective at this time of media convergence. The committee also has a mandate to determine whether the regulatory systems act in the best interests of consumers.