Blais appoints chief consumer officer in first move as CRTC chair

In his first decision as the new CRTC chair, Jean-Pierre Blais appointed a chief consumer officer to the commission and renamed the commission’s research bureau to reflect consumer priorities, a CRTC spokesman said. Barbara Motzney, who has 20 years in the public service and most recently as the director general of border policy and international affairs at the Department of Public Safety, will take on the commission’s new chief consumer role starting Oct. 1, a CRTC release said Friday. Motzney's role will be “to better understand the concerns of Canadian consumers and bring them to the Commission’s attention during the decision-making process,” the release said. “This will be achieved by leading research activities on consumer issues to identify trends and best practices, including those in other jurisdictions,” the CRTC said. As chief consumer offer, Motzney will oversee the commission’s new Consumer Affairs and Strategic Planning division, which replaces the former Policy Development and Research division. Commission spokesman Denis Carmel said in a phone interview the CRTC has not yet laid out the new division's roles and responsibilities, but would know more by the time the division opens operations on Oct. 1. "It is obviously a work in progress," he said. "This is the first of many steps." He said the change is Blais’ first decision as CRTC chair since he assumed the role on June 18. “It’s his first real decision as chairman,” Carmel said. “Most of the decisions that have been taken until now … had been determined by the previous administration.” Carmel said the decision sends a “clear signal” that Blais wants to put consumers “at the forefront” of the commission’s actions and said Blais was looking at ways to enhance the commission’s work. “We say that technology has put the consumer in the driver’s seat in the broadcast world and in the telecom world, so we’re just responding to that,” Carmel said. John Lawford, legal counsel and newly named executive director for consumer group the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), said the new consumer division “signals that the new chair is serious about consumer issues.” He added: “I think it’s a great signal to send to everybody.” Lawford said the move signals commission research is for consumers’ interests and not just on behalf of corporate or industry interests. He said he hopes the new division will make more information available to the general public than did the former policy development and research branch, leading to more conversations about quality of service and price controls for the broadcast sector. “It doesn’t mean the policies are always going to come out as more regulation, or more costs or more stupid rules,” Lawford said when asked whether a new emphasis on consumers would come at the expense of the telecom companies the commission regulates. “It could be win-win.” Lawford said PIAC was among the first groups Blais met with over the summer after assuming the chair’s position, and that his position on consumer issues is encouraging for the organization. Michel Arpin, former CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting, agreed that the decision signals more commission emphasis on consumer interests. “That sends a clear message that even if the commission has always had that concern, they will be more focused,” Arpin said in a phone interview. The CRTC has dealt with a public perception that it has failed to adequately stand up for consumers in its decisions, such as those on wholesale usage-based billing, Globalive Wireless Management Corp.'s market entry as a wireless carrier, or a “value for signal” policy for broadcasters. The Broadcasting Act, enacted in 1991 when the Internet was not a significant source of broadcast entertainment for Canadians, says little about consumer protection and focuses more on the delivery of Canadian content. The statute adds that the Canadian broadcasting system should be regulated in a flexible manner that facilitates the provision of Canadian programs to Canadians and that it should not inhibit the development of information technologies to deliver broadcasting services. The Telecommunications Act of 1993 says the commission's telecom policies must render reliable and affordable services of high quality, accessible to Canadians living in urban and rural areas across the country. Carmel said the commission has always assumed an "implied" mandate to serve Canadian consumers. "The Broadcasting Act is all about services to Canadians, the Telecom Act is all about services to Canadians," Carmel said. "When we talk in the Telecom Act about just and reasonable rates, it’s about Canadians, it’s about consumers. Throughout both acts, it’s ever-present.” Arpin agreed that the commission has mandates under the broadcasting and telecommunications statutes related to consumer protection. He pointed to section three of the Broadcasting Act, which says the Canadian broadcasting system should “serve the needs and interests, and reflect the circumstances and aspirations, of Canadian men, women and children.” “The act says that the main purpose of the CRTC is to regulate and supervise the broadcasting system,” Arpin said. “There might be a greater focus on some issues, but there has always been a concern about the people.” In an internal email to commission staff this week, Stephen Delaney, the CRTC’s acting executive director, said the CRTC plans to make other personnel changes related to the rebranded division. He said Steven Harroun, the commission’s former director general of convergence and social policy, will receive the new title of director general of consumer affairs, and that Mashood Qureshi will assume the new position of director of consumer policy. Delaney said Celia Millay will serve as manager of the new group and will report to the director of consumer policy. Nanao Kachi will carry on in the director of social policy role on an acting basis, Delaney said. nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Blais appoints chief consumer officer in first move as CRTC chair

Broadcast | August 31, 2012

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Blais appoints chief consumer officer in first move as CRTC chair

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