OTTAWA – The CRTC will use social news aggregation site Reddit to involve more Canadians in its upcoming review into differential pricing practices related to Internet and wireless data plans.
The Commission said Monday that it will post the topic of differential pricing practices related to Internet data plans on the /r/Canada subreddit discussion forum “to encourage individuals who might not otherwise participate in this proceeding to share their points of view”.
The official /r/Canada subreddit discussion forum on this topic will run from 9:00 AM ET on September 26 to 8:00 PM ET on September 30, 2016. …
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OTTAWA – CRTC commissioner Dr. Linda Vennard broke the Conflict of Interest Act by accepting flowers and chocolates on her birthday from a radio broadcaster, says the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.
According to a report by Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, Vennard, then the newly appointed commissioner for Alberta and the Northwest Territories, received the gifts from representatives of Multicultural Broadcasting Corporation Inc. and Asia Broadcasting Corporation Inc., CRTC-licensed companies operating two radio stations commercially branded as RED FM, including one in Calgary. The gifts had been sent to her at the…
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GATINEAU – There’s still time to let the CRTC know what you think of its Wireless Code of Conduct.
The Commission opened its online discussion forum Tuesday and encouraged Canadians to share their views on how the Wireless Code is helping to address issues with their wireless services. The forum, which will be open through September 26, is part of the CRTC’s planned three year review that also includes a public hearing in Gatineau starting February 6, 2017.
The Wireless Code came into effect December 2, 2013 in an effort to make it easier for consumers and small businesses to…
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MONTREAL – Concerns over “allegations of systemic and overt racism” within the CRTC have prompted two community organizations to petition Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to reinstate former Ontario CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan.
In a letter dated September 6 that was also copied to Governor General David Johnston and CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, the Community Media Advocacy Centre and Urban Alliance on Race Relations noted that in the Commission’s 48 year history, only two of 103 first-time appointments have been granted to visible minorities, and that no visible minority or Indigenous person has ever been appointed to serve…
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Time for government to speed up appointments
GATINEAU – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais quietly asked the federal government for help during last week’s public hearing into skinny basic cable and flexible channel packaging. Simply, he needs more commissioners.
After the opening statements by Vidéotron (which was a group dominated by women and all of whom are bilingual Francophones, headed up by CEO Manon Brouillette), Blais, speaking in French, said he was “jealous” of the diversity looking back at him. The CRTC commissioners beside Blais were B.C. and Yukon commissioner Stephen Simpson and Atlantic Region and Nunavut commissioner Christopher MacDonald.
However, it has…
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GATINEAU – It took more than a few hours but some sparks did fly at the CRTC’s flexible channel packaging hearing on Wednesday when commissioner Christopher MacDonald (right) questioned Bell on the timing of a company press release a day earlier which promised the company would offer Fibe TV service separate from its internet offering.
Cynics might have highlighted the coincidence of a Bell announcement, the day before the hearing kicked off, he noted, asking Bell “why now” when only four months ago the company suggested it was a monumental task to make a basic Fibe…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC should either reconsider its recent community TV policy decision or hold a new hearing that focuses exclusively on community TV and media, says the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
In a lengthy letter to the CRTC made public Tuesday, the organization cites “the lack of information placed on the public record by the Commission; the number of false, selective, and erroneous statements in its analysis and decision; and the number of internal contradictions in the decision”, as its reasons for the request.
“Our comments include concerns about the paucity of information on…
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Chaiman Blais should not have been witness and adjudicator
TORONTO – Former Ontario CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan won his first day in court over CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
Federal Court justice Russell Zinn on Friday said in a 50-page ruling that having chairman Blais as both witness and adjudicator was unfair and because of that, set aside the finding of workplace harassment found against Shoan. The case was heard in June.
Shoan was originally accused of workplace harassment by former executive director of communications Amanda Cliff in 2014. The case against Shoan was over seven different email threads…
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Bill would force ISPs to censor the Internet
IN A LETTER WHICH suspends a CRTC application made by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre which said Quebec’s new web-blocking legislation, Bill 74, is not only unconstitutional, but directly conflicts with the Telecommunications Act, the Commission made it known that it more or less agrees with PIAC.
(Ed note: So do we.)
Bill 74 requires Quebec-based Internet service providers to block certain gambling websites when told to do so by the province. The Quebec government created the new law because it wants to keep as much gambling as possible with the province’s…
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TORONTO – The CRTC has corrected a portion of its controversial Certified Independent Production Funds (CIPFs) policy framework decision after being called out on a misattributed quote by the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) early Thursday.
In a statement entitled “CRTC Gets the Facts Wrong”, WGC publicly questioned “the rigour” of the CRTC process that erroneously claimed that the Canadian Media Fund (CMF) argued in favour of reducing the points needed for Canadian productions to receive funding from the CIPFs to six.
“In fact, the CMF didn’t say any of that”, said the WGC. “Documents on the public record…
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