Opponents of government’s approach to telecom regulation making noise

Opposition members of Parliament, consumers group representatives and small IP telephony providers have banded together to try to alter recent changes to the telecommunications regulation. They believe that recent pronouncements on VoIP, local telephony deregulation and the policy direction will do more harm than good for competition.In two press conferences on Parliament Hill on January 15, the Union des consommateurs, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Quebec Coalition of Internet Service Providers and the Bloc Québécois put Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier and the federal government on notice. Opponents of Bernier’s handling of the telecommunications file say they are prepared to do what it takes to make sure there is full public debate of changes being made, and that the minister can’t simply decree telecommunications regulation. To make sure this comes to fruition, Bloc MP Paul Crête succeeded in getting four members of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to sign an order calling back the committee as soon as Parliament returns from the holiday break. Liberal MP Dan McTeague, NDP Brian Masse and Robert Vincent of the Bloc were the other three signatories. The committee will resume on January 29, and the first order of business is the deregulation of telecommunications. During the second press conference, Crête noted that the committee will consider the positions of the various parties that submitted comments to the local forbearance vary order issued by Bernier on December 11. As well, committee members will discuss why the minister disregarded the committee’s decision to further study the policy direction and issue a position by March 1, 2007. There will be more debate on the issues at hand, Crête said during the press conference. Consumers groups, ISPs both large and small, and perhaps even municipalities will have an opportunity to voice their concerns on the changes being implemented by the minister, he added. The Bloc MP also highlighted other possibilities for ensuring public debate on the issue of deregulating the telecommunications sector. He said that the party could put up roadblocks to Bill C-41, proposed legislation that would give the Competition Bureau fining authority over telecommunications companies (NL, Dec. 8/06). Opponents also say the government is minimizing the role of the CRTC and imposing political judgment over commission decisions. Crête said that if the government is going to make such changes to the telecom regulatory environment, then they should be done by legislation not by decree. While political opponents of the government’s approach to the telecommunications sector are taking the political route to secure greater public debate, consumers groups are also prepared to take the government to court over its policy direction. Charles Tanguay, deputy director and spokesperson for the Union des consommateurs, said during the first press conference that the policy direction issued by Bernier to the CRTC on June 13 runs counter to law established by the Telecommunications Act and the group is seriously considering taking the matter to the Federal Court of Canada. Supporters of the minister’s moves discount the consumers groups and the Bloc’s recent press conferences as political grand standing. Lawson Hunter, chief corporate officer with BCE Inc., tells Network Letter that the Standing Committee doesn’t have the ability to stop the new local forbearance regime issued by Bernier on December 11. The committee "can certainly hold hearings and call witnesses, but it’s really more politics than legal, if I can put it that way. And obviously politics are going to play a role in a minority government," he says. John Lawford, counsel for PIAC, accused the minister of thumbing his nose at Parliament when he disregarded the Standing Committee’s decision to study the policy direction further. "This telecom strategy does not have the overwhelming support of our elected representatives and we ask this government allow the committee to complete its review of this policy direction," he said. PIAC also highlighted results from a September 2006 survey, conducted by Pollara, that indicated a vast majority of Canadians want the CRTC to approve local telephone rates and that cable companies won’t provide sufficient competition to the incumbent telephone companies. Hunter refutes the results of the PIAC survey as biased and not representative of other surveys that show consumers want telephony deregulation. "I really wonder why they think what they’re doing is in the consumers’ interests because all of the surveys and polls that we have done and others have done say that consumers by a very, very substantial margin want these changes," he says. "I just find it so perplexing." The telecommunications deregulation debate is far from over and with comments on the local forbearance vary order now in to Industry Canada, Network Letter will present more detailed information in an upcoming issue

Opponents of government’s approach to telecom regulation making noise

News | January 19, 2007

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