Committee tells Minister to withdraw order

OTTAWA – After thousands of words of testimony from various telecom industry players and consumer groups, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has recommended the Minister of Industry withdraw his order varying the local forbearance decision of 2006. In December, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier issued a policy directive ordering the CRTC to change its April 6, 2006 decision and rely on market forces to let competition flourish. The CRTC set out a number of tests that had to be met prior to deregulation in its decision, but the Minister proposed a simpler one: if there are three facilities-based...