Industry Committee on Feb. 5th, 2007

[Richard French]

We do not believe that the minister's order clashes with this aspect of the legislation. The minister's order takes a different approach from the approach taken by the commission as evidenced in its decision. However, another section of the legislation gives the governor in council the power to issue such a directive to the CRTC.

I am unable to tell you whether we have concluded that the evaluation of local services deregulation criteria set out in the order in council which is still being developed—

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Consultations on this were held from December 15 to January 15?

[Richard French]

Yes.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

So, the minister has yet to make a decision on this matter?

[Richard French]

No final decision has been made.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

It is not yet in force.

[Richard French]

No.

Obviously, we will examine its legality, but I would be extremely surprised if we were in a better position to make this decision than the elected government. I must stress, Mr. Crête, the importance of accountability with regard to an elected government.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Do decisions now being made, which are being made under one aspect of the legislation, not change the rules of the game or ensure that the Telecommunications Act operates in a sort of vacuum?

[Richard French]

The Telecommunications Act was written in sufficiently generous terms to leave sufficient room for interpretation. Historically, the CRTC has benefited from sufficient latitude from successive governments of various political stripes to interpret the legislation as it sees fit.

This no longer seems to be true, but this is consistent with the Constitution and the statutes.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

At present, do you believe that the rules of the game are clear for industry?

[Richard French]

To the extent that the order in council is not complete or made public, it is somewhat vague. Does this vagueness create a significant problem or encourage certain individuals to reconsider their investment plans, based on what they've said? You will convene them and hear from these witnesses. They will tell you.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Did the CRTC issue a notice about this consultation?

[Richard French]

The CRTC was not invited to issue an opinion, since this concerned a review of the commission's decision.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

However, between December 15 and January 15, you could have decided to issue a notice on your own initiative.

[Richard French]

Technically, that would be possible. I will ask our legal counsel.

We cannot say, since the government can return decisions to us without further information. It can amend these decisions or not. We cannot get involved in these decisions before receiving a final version.

We must not compromise our freedom to reinterpret our own decision in light of a decision being rejected, without a specific comment from the minister.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

This could be a contradiction of section 34 of the act, for example.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Monsieur Crête, they'll have to answer that in the next round.

We'll go to Mr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank you very much for coming here today.

I would like to clear something up right at the beginning. In the last session we had here in committee, certain members of the opposition were saying that we're pushing forward too quickly and perhaps improperly. We even had one member say, “You have the possibility here of an illegal action by the minister who has used his order-in-council powers in order to subvert parts of the Telecommunications Act.”

I was wondering, with regard to the policy direction and the process, if in your opinion the minister acted properly.

[Richard French]

With regard to the policy direction, let me first be honest and say that the minister and the government would have to do something very flagrant for an agency such as ours to conclude that it was somehow improper. The fact that I don't regard it as improper may not be a guarantee of its wisdom, but it's a guarantee of its constitutionality, and that I can say with respect to the policy direction.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

All right. Thank you very much.

With the change, do you still see yourself as the number one regulator? We got the impression that it seems that we're making these drastic changes with this policy direction. Do you still see yourself as the number one regulator?

[Richard French]

Mr. Carrie, we have certain statutory responsibilities that we carry out, and the Governor in Council has certain prerogatives with respect to our responsibilities that he can choose or not choose to exercise. It is our job to either conform to those statutory and constitutional requirements, or, if we feel as responsible people that there's something fundamentally wrong, to resign. That's the option that a member.... I'm not talking about my colleagues who are public servants. I'm talking about me and my ten colleagues who are commissioners, the members of the commission.

If we felt in our hearts that somehow we were no longer pursuing the public interest in an appropriate way because of things that are legal but ill-advised, we'd resign.

I don't know if I've answered your question. I hope I have.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

That's good.

Has the policy direction in any way taken away your ability to regulate?

[Richard French]

It has substantially reduced the choices before us, but that's in conformity with the Constitution and the statute.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

If these proposed changes do occur, can you still do your job as a regulator?

[Richard French]

I think we would consider the changes when they arrive and ask ourselves that question, but at the moment I don't see a reason to say we could not do our job.