Government spending review eyes CRTC’s spam, do-not-call list programs

The Conservative government's expenditure review program will examine special allocations to the CRTC for its anti-spam and do-not-call-list programs. As part of the Conservative government’s strategic and operating review—which seeks to find $4 billion in annual government savings and requires all department and agencies to submit cost-cutting proposals of 5 or 10 per cent—the commission is also looking at cost-saving measures. The CRTC did not comment Wednesday, but Denis Carmel, a commission spokesman, said in an interview with The Wire Report in October that all departments and agencies have been asked to find efficiencies. “But there’s a caveat,” he said. “It’s a partial review because we’re on cost-recovery. So this only applies to the portions of our budget that are appropriations that have been voted on by Parliament.” That means the CRTC's spending cut proposals to the government will only apply to its anti-spam and do-not-call list enforcement programs. “We only have money from Parliament for the programs on DNCL and spam. That five and 10 per cent would only apply to that money we got from Parliament. We're talking about $4.7 million for next fiscal ,” he said. Although the government says all departments and agencies should do their part in its effort to balance the budget, Treasury Board could decide not to cut the commission's anti-spam or do-not-call list programs. In a quarterly financial statement released this week, the CRTC said the future of its national do-not-call list program could be at risk if it does not receive funding beyond March 31, 2012. The do-not-call list allows consumers to register to not receive telemarketing calls. There are currently 9.5 million numbers registered on the list. The commission said funding for the program for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 totalled $3 million, covering the period until March 31, 2012. The CRTC's enforcement of the government’s new anti-spam law could also be affected, the commission said in the report. “These two activities are still relatively new and the anti-spam responsibilities are not yet fully staffed,” the CRTC said. The Conservative government passed new anti-spam legislation last December, which gives enforcement powers to the CRTC and the Competition Bureau. Experts say spending reductions could have a significant impact on smaller organizations like the CRTC. “The commission, by government standards, is a fairly small organization,” David Elder, a communications lawyer at Stikeman Elliott in Ottawa, said in an interview. “If you compare that to a department where you would have about 10,000 employees, obviously, any percentage-based cut like that is going to have much more of an effect on a smaller organization.” Elder said that if the commission only has a group of 10 employees working in a group and it has to make a 10 per cent cut, that cut amounts to one staff. “That’s a whole person,” Elder said. “It can have a much more material impact in that size than it would be where you can spread the work over a larger workforce.” Elder said budget cuts could have implications for anti-spam enforcement at the CRTC. “They were granted a budget to do that, including a number of new positions, and they’ve hired new people to deal with the enforcement of the anti-spam legislation,” he said. “To the extent that they are going to cut, that flies into the face of the budget dollars they were just given.” The anti-spam legislation seeks to restrict spam messages, spyware and malware and the harvesting of addresses from computers. The legislation makes the use of such tools illegal unless consent is obtained from recipients. Carmel said the commission was hiring people to work on the anti-spam legislation enforcement. “We’re making sure that we have all the facilities and all the equipment we need to be up and running when the coming-into-force will be proclaimed,” he said. Sheridan Scott, a partner at Bennett Jones LLP and former head of the Competition Bureau, said Canadians have not yet had a chance to observe any impacts from the anti-spam bill. “It’s brand new legislation,” she said in an interview. “We wouldn’t see the full benefits of the new law coming into being, if that’s where they chose to reduce their efforts.” Scott agreed that cuts are more difficult to make in small organizations, and that larger companies have more flexibility. “You can cut a whole person, but you can’t cut half a person,” she said. Scott noted that the government takes into account the fact that some departments and agencies can bear cuts more easily than others. The commission has been known to impose significant fines on companies that violate regulations associated with the do-not-call-list. Last December, Bell Canada paid a monetary penalty of $1.3 million for violations associated with unauthorized calls. The money generated from fines flow into the government's general revenues. The CRTC could not use the collected fines to fund its programs because it would create a negative “enforcement incentive,” Scott said. “There’s a reluctance to get rewarded for enforcement action,” she said. “It’s an odd incentive to say, 'Well the more you go after these companies, the more money you will put in your pocket.'” Money from the Competition Bureau's monetary penalties or enforcement actions also go into the government's consolidated revenues. If the commission wanted to protect its do-not-call program, Scott said, it could argue to the government that it has fewer workers in that division, which would mean less money flowing into the consolidated revenues. “The CRTC could use this as an argument in favour of maintaining full funding for those programs that can generate funds.” Total spending authorities for the CRTC were $56.3 million for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, according to its most recent performance report filed with Treasury Board. The report said for 2011-12 there is a $5.5 million increase in budgetary authorities due to higher operating and statutory costs. The Competition Bureau and Industry Canada did not respond by deadline to questions about the government's strategic and operating review. —With files from Nicholas Kyonka dgrenier@thewirereport.ca

Government spending review eyes CRTC’s spam, do-not-call list programs

News | 11/30/2011 10:51 pm EST

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