Cartt.ca INVESTIGATES: Rewriting the Acts, Part I. Should they be touched at all?

By Perry Hoffman

IT’S BEEN MORE THAN 25 years since legislation guiding the communications sector came into force. There have some minor changes, but both the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act have remained largely the same – their objectives essentially left untouched. They have stood the test of time, some say. Others, however, point to the enormous impact of the Internet in arguing for big changes to these laws.“The Internet has really become the central communication mode in our life now, and yet we have legislation that makes a distinction between telecom and broadcasting and also between wireless and wireline. It doesn’t...