COLOR US A LITTLE MIFFED. After a number of days asking and re-asking Industry Minister Tony Clement for clarification on the digital television transition question, we were told it was a file for Heritage Minister James Moore to deal with, as we reported here April 1st.
Then Wednesday, we saw this story from Canadian Press where Minister Clement addressed the issue after all.
The story yesterday, which appeared on the Globe and Mail’s web site, raised the same issues we raised last week (and have been talking about for at least a year) about the lack of information out there for Canadians and how there is no real plan in place to shut off analog TV on August 31, 2011.
“I’m really going to try and avoid postponing…. I would really like to stick to the deadline,” Clement told CP.
“That requires us to engage with the industry sooner rather than later. If we stick to the deadline and actually have quite a detailed plan, it should not create any misery for Canadians.”
“(W)e have to start moving quite smartly,” Clement acknowledged in the story, “rapidly to start disseminating this deadline that’s coming up and to work out the best way to roll this out.
“You’re talking about a small percentage of the population but, nonetheless, their world is going to change.”
We’ll keep on top of this story and are hopeful of setting up a meeting with the Minister, too.
– Greg O’Brien
