Bernier appearing before Parliamentary committee on February 19

Opposition members will get their opportunity to ask Industry Minister Maxime Bernier why he has yet to introduce legislation to change the Telecommunications Act when he appears before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on Monday, February 19.They will point to the report from the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel (TPRP), which recommended the government table legislation to change the 1993 Telecommunications Act. This is the very report, opposition MPs will indicate, that the minister has relied on to announce previous changes to telecommunications regulation. Members from the Bloc Québécois, Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party will accuse Bernier of cherry-picking recommendations from the TPRP and choosing to implement recommendations that benefit his political supporters rather doing what is good for consumers. When the minister takes his seat in front of the committee at 3:30 p.m., opposition members will be armed with considerable information to question him on the decisions he hasn’t yet made. In addition to the lack of legislative movement, they will point to key recommendations from the TPRP such as the creation of a Telecommunications Competition Tribunal (TCT) and the telecommunications ombudsman position which have yet to be acted on. Government members on the committee have defended the minister’s and the government’s actions on the telecommunications file, noting that Bernier is implementing the parts of the report that he can and is slated to make more changes in the future. They are also likely to point out that the TPRP recommended a two-stage approach to telecom deregulation: move on elements that didn’t require legislative change first, then introduce legislation. This is something the Conservatives say the minister is expected to do. But opposition members are likely to highlight testimony from Hank Intven, former member of the TPRP, stating that the creation of the TCT should have been in the first stages of telecom deregulation. "I would have hoped the government moved in this area," he said earlier this week. The government has been advocating a more competition-authority approach to telecom deregulation, but opposition members will point out that the legislative change is required to make that transition smooth. Even the telecom regulator acknowledges that legislative change is required if the Competition Bureau of Canada is going to play a larger role. "I think it’s fair to say that we both hope there will be legislative amendments to our respective legislation that will clarify that hand-off and make it more effective," Richard French, vice-chair of telecommunications at the CRTC, said during testimony on February 5.

Bernier appearing before Parliamentary committee on February 19

News | February 16, 2007

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