By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The much-anticipated report by the federal Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel has so far drawn praise from some of the industries it affects, but mainly criticism from the official opposition Conservatives.
At a National Press Theatre news conference following the release of the report on Wednesday, Michelle Rempel Garner, the Conservative shadow minister for industry and economic development (pictured in a cpac.ca screen cap), said that while the 235-page document, entitled Canada’s Communications Future: A Time to Act, is “well-intentioned, [it] was written in one of the most heavily lobbied and regulated spaces in Canadian industry – the telecommunications industry, which is owned and controlled by a handful of large companies [that] own the Canadian media, control and own the data we create, and have a stranglehold on who can access the internet.”
(Ed note: Google and other non-Canadian companies own some of the data we create, too.)
“The report falls short of saying what needs to be said and doesn’t suggest the disruptions needed to address inequalities created by the current state of governance,” she said, comparing the BTLR report to the Liberal government’s Digital Charter, which “is a carefully crafted piece of work designed to give cover to upholding the status quo, not to disrupting it.”
Rempel Garner presented the Tories’ policy priorities – an alternative to the BTLR report, which would include creating a legal framework that would enshrine the right Canadians have to own and control the data they produce. She also called for legislation that would outline the type of data the federal government can collect; how it is used; and in what circumstances.
Building on the CRTC’s directive regarding expanded competition for broadband services, the Conservatives want to find “ways to disrupt the regulatory environment so that the hardest to reach Canadian will have access in a three-year period,” without Rempel Garner said, “acquiescing to the discriminatory demands of a bloated oligopoly.”
The opposition Tories also want the government to end the existing system of wireless spectrum auctions, which they say “creates monopolies by auctioning off long-term leases.” Rempel Garner told reporters that her party would push for “more democratic and efficient systems such as spectrum leasing or self-assessed licenses sold at auction” – and on the consumer front, “stop predatory practices such as set up fees, disconnect fees, charges for changing your service/package, forcing users to be subjected to high pressure sales tactics rather than simply being allowed to change their package online, data portability and the right to repair.”
Whether or not the federal government greenlights Huawei to supply the technology for Canada’s 5G networks, the Conservatives called for a legal and enforcement network to ensure those new networks are “secured from malicious sources entering,” along with a framework to ensure compatibility with allied countries and trading partners, said Rempel Garner, who added that she would propose motions to study and develop such a process before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.
On creating Canadian content, rather than “gathering and dispersing funds [in a] condescending and paternalistic way and marginaliz[ing] communities not understood by bureaucrats in Ottawa,” the Tories would scrap the Canada Media Fund, government-controlled print media funds, and “Crown corporation models” and rely on crowd funding using such “cutting-edge technologies” as Quadratic Funding, created by GitHub and GitCoin, Rempel Garner said.
(Ed note: We’re not 100% certain what that means or any idea how it might work nor does Rempel-Garner’s statement explain it, but here’s the gitcoin web site.)
Her colleague, Steven Blaney, the Conservative shadow minister for Canadian Heritage, told Cartt.ca in an interview that it was former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s government that created the Canada Media Fund in 2009, and “since then nothing has been done to support Canadian artists.”
The BTLR report also recommends the merger between the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada “to create a new publicly funded institution that supports screen-based content, with a view to ensuring innovation and content from diverse voices, such as official language minority communities and Indigenous Peoples and communities.”
However, Blaney, a former Harper cabinet minister, praised the report for its recommendation that the Telecommunications Act be amended to ensure that all Canadians have “timely, affordable, barrier-free access” to broadband internet.
“My riding is in front of Quebec City, and we have 30 municipalities that are striving to get decent internet services,” said Blaney, who represents the riding of Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Lévis in the Commons. “Although the current Liberal government made many promises, no money has come from it and regions are being left behind.”
“We also welcome the recommendations that confirm and seek to bolster the Commission’s powers to deal with anticompetitive behaviors by the larger players.” – Jay Thomson, CCSA
Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), which represents independent internet, television and telephone providers, was also pleased that the BTLR report’s call for rural-broadband support.
“That’s a fundamental goal of our members and anything that can help in that respect is certainly welcomed,” he said in an interview, noting the panel’s recommendations regarding support structures. One calls for an amendment to the Telecommunications Act to empower the CRTC – to also be renamed the Canadian Communications Commission, with the power “to review and vary the terms and conditions of access to the support structures of provincially regulated utilities, to ensure non-discriminatory arrangements.”
Added Thomson: “We also welcome the recommendations that confirm and seek to bolster the Commission’s powers to deal with anticompetitive behaviors by the larger players.”
In a statement, the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) said the majority of the recommendations in the BTLR report will “increase competition in the telecom sector while benefitting the consumer.”
“This is a leap forward for Canadian connectivity as the bulk of the telecom recommendations in this report, if implemented, will help create a next-generation industry,” said CNOC chair Matt Stein, who is also CEO of Distributel.
CNOC believes that providing the proposed Canadian Communications Commission “a more focused and proactive mandate is the foundation for creating a wholesale regulatory framework that is effective.”
Meanwhile, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting executive director Daniel Bernhard gave a thumbs-up to the BTLR’s recommendation that the Broadcasting Act be amended to require the federal government to provide CBC/Radio Canada with a five-year-minimum funding commitment, and that the public broadcaster begin eliminating advertising on all of its platforms – starting with news content – over the next five years.
“Any measure to strengthen the CBC’s independence is good,” he told Cartt.ca. “The move to get CBC out of advertising is a positive one, as long as it’s matched with corresponding funding to make sure that the CBC can not only maintain its existing services, but grow.”
“The report was really clear that with private media in freefall and big global subscription services dominating the entertainment market that if we want to have Canadian journalism and Canadian stories told through our media, we’ve got to pay for it. So the CBC needs to take a much bigger role and we need a new deal for the CBC, and I think this report paves the way for that.”
Bernhard added the federal government can act on bolstering the CBC’s mandate immediately by instructing the CRTC to implement the five-year advertising phase-out and boost funding in the upcoming budget.
