Government not releasing any internal Globalive documents, feds tell Public Mobile

The federal government has responded to Public Mobile’s federal court challenge on the Globalive decision, saying it will not release documents related to the government decision. Public Mobile’s federal court application, filed Jan. 8, requested that the government release “All relevant materials before the Governor in Council in connection with the decision” to overturn a CRTC ruling that had denied Globalive Communications Corp. from operating in Canada based on foreign ownership rules. The government filed a response to Public Mobile’s court application on Jan. 25, but it says “all documents submitted to the Governor in Council are confidential documents of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada and therefore cannot be disclosed.” The government filed with the court a copy of its Order in Council decision on Globalive. Neither Public Mobile nor the Privy Council Office responded to requests for comment by deadline Thursday. It would be unusual, however, for the government to release sensitive documents relating to a decision that may have involved Cabinet discussions. Public Mobile’s court application alleges that the government “reached its conclusion that Globalive is not controlled in fact by non-Canadians in a perverse and capricious manner without regard for the material before it.” A government release Dec. 11 said that “he government’s decision is specific to the facts of this case and is based on a rigorous application of the COC (Canadian ownership and control) requirements to these facts.” The release added, “In varying the CRTC decision, the Government is not removing, reducing, bending or creating an exception to COC requirements in the telecommunication and broadcasting industries.” Egyptian company Orascom Communications controls a 65 per cent equity stake in Globalive but maintains a 20 per cent voting equity in its wireless business. Canada's current rules limit foreign investment to 20 per cent direct investment and 33 per cent indirect investment, for a total ownership limit of 46.7 per cent, in the voting equity of Canadian telecom carriers. Public Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic previously told The Wire Report that the government’s decision bends the foreign ownership rules and that the decision unnecessarily denied the company access to foreign capital. “We diluted ourselves by bringing on more investors that were Canadian, and what we could have done is bring on more US money at probably better rates,” Krstajic said. The government’s Order in Council decision on Globalive, issued Dec. 10, 2009, said that “Orascom does not have the ongoing ability to determine Globalive’s strategic decision-making activities to manage day-to-day operations.”

Government not releasing any internal Globalive documents, feds tell Public Mobile

News | February 4, 2010

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