Feds should create ‘telecom stamps’ for low-income Canadians: Cogeco

When it comes to issues of affordability, the Canadian government should look to an American social assistance program to help low-income residents purchase telecommunications services, Cogeco Inc. told CRTC commissioners Friday morning. The government could provide “telecom stamps” as a form of subsidy, modeled after the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, Louis Audet, Cogeco CEO, told the basic services hearing panel at the end of the second week of the three-week proceeding. According to the website of the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service, a four-person household with a net monthly income of no more than $2,021 could receive up to $649 in SNAP assistance, with the expectation that households spend about 30 per cent of their monthly resources on food. “We believe it is not the responsibility of the commission nor of private enterprise to handle the plague of poverty,” Audet said during his opening remarks. He added that the regulatory body should not impose requirements for companies to have low-cost packages and that “efforts aimed at low-cost housing” — such as the $9.99-per-month Connected for Success program offered by Rogers Communications Inc. — are “laudable,” but not the answer. Audet echoed the sentiments of representatives who previously appeared before the panel from companies such as BCE Inc. and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., who all said it wasn’t the industry’s place to address issues of poverty and non-affordability. “Revenue departments have knowledge of how much money people are earning and who is in poverty and who is not,” Audet said, in French. “And then they could have stamps to help consumers buy their service if they can’t afford it. Of course it could be done otherwise — you could have tax rebates, but nothing says that those rebates would be used for whatever you’re looking for.” Given the refocus of the hearing on creating a national broadband strategy, the CRTC announced Friday morning it was making some procedural changes. The commission is providing additional time for final submissions, extending the May 17 deadline to May 25. Final replies will now have to be submitted by June 13. When it comes to that national strategy, Cogeco said all of the groundwork has already been completed in previous proceedings, studies and reports. “What we have to do now is Innovation Canada should say ‘alright, I know how much funding is required… so here’s how we’re going to split this,” Audet said in French, noting that what the CRTC itself should do is write a succinct report outlining what’s needed to proceed. “This is the way I feel it should be done. I don’t want to limit discussions and talks here, but the heavy lifting has been carried out already.” The hearing resumes Monday morning at 9 a.m. — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija by akarad@thewirereport.ca

Feds should create ‘telecom stamps’ for low-income Canadians: Cogeco

News | April 22, 2016

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