GATINEAU – When in August 2020, the CRTC found both Iristel and Telus had violated the Telecom Act, Iristel for traffic stimulation and Telus by taking matters in its own hand in blocking traffic to Iristel, it initiated a proceeding to determine whether Administrative Penalties (AMPs) were warranted.
After Iristel went to the CRTC seeking a Review and Vary (R&V) and a stay of the decision right away, on November 6, Telus also sought a R&V of the same decision to argue that they di not unjustly discriminated. It was posted to the Commission website on Thursday.
“The Commission, motivated by an understandable—but in this case misplaced—concern about carriers ‘taking matters into their own hands’, made a number of factual and legal errors in its assessment of Telus’ actions,” the company’s application reads.
In saying Telus violated section 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act, the CRTC is misreading the wording of the Act, says the company.
“Section 27(2) must be interpreted in accordance with the Modern Principle that ‘the words of an Act are to be read in their entire context, in their grammatical and ordinary sense harmoniously with the scheme of the Act, the object of the Act, and the intention of Parliament,’ the application continues.
It goes further in quoting the Supreme Court in Canada v. Thompson and they even look at the French version of 27 (2) for added emphasis.
In the meantime, the Commission had suspended the process that would have led to the imposition of the first ‘general’ telecom AMP (to our knowledge) while the Government has tabled amendments to the Broadcasting Act giving them AMP powers.
