MPs successful in stalling coming-into-force of proposed policy direction

Opposition members of Parliament on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology have succeeded in delaying the implementation of the proposed policy direction to the CRTC. At a meeting on October 26, committee members voted seven to four to adopt a motion that would see the committee further study the directive and report back to the House no later than March 1, 2007. At the end of the committee’s meeting on October 19 – coincidentally the same meeting used to study the policy direction – Paul Crête, Bloc Québécois MP for Montmagny-L’Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup, introduced a motion to extend the study period by six months. The motion reads, "The government impose a moratorium on implementing instructions respecting telecommunications policies recommended to the CRTC to allow the committee to hear more witnesses in order to make a more thorough study and subsequently present a report to the House on the impact of the deregulation, and that the adoption of this motion be presented to the House of Commons as soon as possible." The motion required unanimous consent to be carried – something it didn’t get. That set the stage for another meeting on October 24 during which an amendment was introduced and Conservative members on the committee questioned the tactics of the opposition parties. Jean Lapierre, Liberal MP for the Quebec riding of Outremont, tabled an amendment proposing to set a deadline of no later than March 1, 2007 to submit a report to the House of Commons. Debate on the motion and the subsequent amendment erupted in a flurry of comments from Conservative MPs, who questioned the need to further study the proposed policy direction and argued that opposition MPs were simply trying to stall implementation of the policy direction for no good reason. They also accused opposition MPs of not pushing the telecom agenda when Parliament came back from its summer recess and then requesting more substantial debate only days before it was to be implemented. Considering the October 26 meeting was supposed to only be a debate on the amendment introduced by Lapierre, it was anything but calm. Colin Carrie, Conservative MP representing the Ontario riding of Oshawa, was the most vocal opponent to the motion, forcefully arguing that it was nothing more than a stall tactic aimed at delaying the coming-into-force of the policy directive. "The whole idea with this entire process is really...it’s taken me by surprise that they’ve (opposition members) even brought this up," he said. "Here we’re looking at a report Mr. Chair, was started by the former government back in 2005 and we had an expert review panel look at the entire telecommunications industry and it took them 10 months to review the whole industry and they came up with 127 recommendations," Carrie continued. "Now this has been available to everyone since March of this year, which is, like, seven months ago. And we didn’t hear a thing from this committee until last week about the issue we haven’t heard from enough witnesses. They spent 10 months…talking to the witnesses." The committee decided that it would first conclude its study of the manufacturing sector around early December and then move on the policy direction issue early in the New Year. Also at the end of the October 24 meeting, the committee agreed to meet on October 26 to debate the amendment to the motion that called for the committee to report to the House no later than March 1, 2007. Given the contention two days earlier, the October 26 committee meeting had all the makings of an all-out slugfest, but amounted to nothing more than a clarifying of positions and a procedural discussion. MPs from both sides of the floor had held talks prior to meeting and came to a consensus that studying the proposed policy direction would be in the best interests of Canadians. Dan McTeague, Liberal MP representing the Ontario riding of Pickering-Scarborough East noted that the potential illegality of the policy direction and the implications of its coming-into-force raise some major questions. "I think considering the grave implications for not looking at this and the concern that I’ve emphasized with the possibility that the minister’s direction may be in contravention of the Telecommunications Act, I think it’s incumbent on this committee and on Parliament to make sure that the appropriate legislation is in place and amended accordingly," he said. Brian Masse, NDP member representing the Ontario riding of Windsor West, added that all the witnesses who testified before the committee recognized that changes to the Telecommunications Act had to be made and that there needs to be new direction for telecommunications regulation. "There seems to be a lot at stake in terms of what those changes could be," he said. "There so many different positions out there about what to do, and how far to go, I think it would be worthwhile to finish the job." The sticking point for government members on the committee was whether any of the opposition parties would trigger a three-hour Parliamentary debate on the issue in the House of Commons prior to finishing the extended study period. Conservative MP Carrie wanted assurances from the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois that they wouldn’t push this debate into the House. In refusing to offer such a guarantee, Crête said he can’t speak for the leader of the party and if the leader wanted to debate the policy direction in the House, then he would trigger such a discussion. McTeague said the Liberals don’t want to push this into the House of Commons, but couldn’t promise it wouldn’t happen. While the opposition isn’t likely to employ such a tactic before the House breaks for the holidays, what could happen in the New Year is anyone’s guess.

MPs successful in stalling coming-into-force of proposed policy direction

News | 10/27/2006 4:00 am EDT

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