Von Finckenstein rebuts Menzies
IN THE JULY 3 EDITION of the Report on Business, former vice-chair of telecom Peter Menzies wrote he believes Ottawa has given the CRTC conflicting directives which will result in a tough road for the current Commission chair, Ian Scott.
I see the issue differently. The federal government has actually issued two helpful directives.
First, the previous government under former Industry Minister Maxime Bernier issued a directive in 2006 putting the emphasis on competition and directing the CRTC, when regulating, to maximize competition in the telecom sector. Now, under ISED Minister Navdeep Bains, today’s government issued another directive putting the consumer front and center and directing the CRTC to ensure maximum access and affordable prices for consumers.
These two directives are complementary and have the same ultimate goal: A competitive telecom sector producing maximum choice and affordable prices for consumers.
The government also set up the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review panel under Janet Yale to advise on how to amend the three existing statutes which regulate the Canadian communications world. This is long overdue as all these laws stem from the 1980s, long before the arrival of the internet. The panel held extensive discussions and reported what it heard recently. Detailed recommendations will follow in the new year.
This prompted Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez to tweet: “Thanks to @Janet Yale and panel for their work. We will be ready to legislate once we receive their recommendations. Everyone has to contribute to our culture. That’s why we’ll require web giants to create Canadian Content and promote it on their platforms.” Minister Rodriguez added more colour days later.
“There is no conflict between Minister Rodriguez’s aspirations and the policy directives.”
I see no contradiction. The federal government clearly wants a competitive, consumer-centric telecommunications system based on modern legislation. At the same time, it realizes all broadcasting in Canada should be regulated equally and companies that engage in broadcasting should contribute to the creation of Canadian culture, whether the broadcasting is delivered over the air, cable or internet via apps.
The present ludicrous situation, for example, that Bell Media’s Crave is subject to HST but Netflix is not must obviously be changed. What Minister Rodriguez envisions is that broadcasting delivered over the internet (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Crave) should be subject to both taxation and Canadian content requirements. The apps delivered by internet giants are what will be regulated, not the internet giants themselves. This is already done in other countries.
Evidently, the Minister expects the Yale panel to so recommend. Given that broadcasting delivered over the internet is done by subscription, the implementation of such a policy is relatively easy.
There is no conflict between Minister Rodriguez’s aspirations and the policy directives. It is to be assumed the Yale panel will realize that to consistently and rigorously implement such broadcasting policy while having a telecommunications policy focused on competition and consumer benefits requires two separate agencies with totally different mandates. I read Minister Rodriguez’s tweet as merely guiding it in that direction.
Bottom line, the two directives, Minister Rodriguez’s expectation and the coming recommendations by the Yale task force need not be contradictory and can easily be implemented in a complementary manner.
Konrad von Finckenstein was CRTC chair from 2007-2012.
