Evidence of meeting #62 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was crtc.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
Not really, as it's about billing. Service provider clients look to the CCTS to resolve their problems. We resolve them. After that, we bill the service provider directly.
I cannot comment on the CRTC. There are other funding options, such as taxes on Canadians or on the sector from which the complaints come from. At some point, a decision was made to recover our costs directly from industry, since we deal with complaints from industry.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Earlier, you said that 17% of the complaints—a good portion—were related to service quality. Out of 100 individuals, that accounts for 17 people; but if we do the math on 5,000 individuals, that's a lot more people.
How many complaints do you handle annually?
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
Last year, we handled approximately 13,000 complaints.
It is important to note that the CCTS is usually the consumer's last resort. This is not to say that consumers have to get to that point before they file a complaint with the CCTS. However, the majority of Canadians wait before filing a complaint with the CCTS.
I would like to clarify that this 17% represents consumer complaints about the quality of Internet service.
We deal with complaints about wireless, Internet and television services. Of all the complaints from Internet consumers, 17% concern the quality of Internet service.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Do you think that, if my colleague's bill were passed, you would have even more complaints because of the transparency that the legislation would bring?
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
It's hard to say. The number of complaints we receive depends on many factors. So it is impossible to know whether that would result in more complaints.
Measures whose purpose is to ensure that consumers receive precise and accurate information about the services they purchase are the most important measures to us.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
What are the time frames for processing a complaint?
We see that 17% of 13,000 complaints is more than 2,000 complaints, just for quality of service.
In the transportation sector in Canada right now, complaints take years to process. Is the situation the same in your organization?
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
No, not at all.
Nearly nine out of 10 complaints are resolved, and the majority of complaints are resolved within 30 days or less.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I'm sorry, I didn't understand the first part of what you said.
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
Nearly nine out of 10 complaints we receive are resolved to the satisfaction of the consumer. The majority of complaints are resolved within 30 days.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Okay.
I understood, earlier, the $5,000 figure. Can your organization impose potential penalties on companies? Did I understand correctly?
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
No, it's not a penalty for the company, it's compensation for the consumer. We can actually require telecommunications companies to compensate consumers up to $5,000.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Give me a concrete example of someone who has filed a complaint.
You still say that, nine times out of 10, the complaint is resolved. However, there is not necessarily compensation in nine cases out of 10, as I understand it.
4:55 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
No, it does not mean that there is compensation in nine cases out of 10. It means that the case is resolved to the satisfaction of the consumer. Sometimes, it is simply a matter of correcting a billing error, which does not require compensation.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Are any of the telecom companies that are your clients at fault more often than others?
I don't want to ask you to provide confidential information, but that data should be publicly available.
4:55 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
I want to make a clarification. Our clients are not service providers, but the consumers who file complaints against service providers.
We help fix problems and we also give a roadmap to service providers. We speak out about what causes consumers to file complaints and what service providers could do better to avoid complaints. That is our role at the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I will rephrase my question.
Who's the bad kid on the block there?
There are only four or five companies in Canada.
4:55 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
It won't surprise you that the largest service providers generate the most complaints. That's not surprising.
We file an annual report every year. You can always see the complaint data there. The information is well laid out in the report, where you will find the number of complaints against each service provider.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I think you mentioned earlier that people living in rural areas are more likely to complain than people living in urban areas, even though there are many more people in cities than in rural areas.
Are complaints from rural areas proportionally more significant?
4:55 p.m.
Assistant Commissioner, Operations and Business Services, Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services
It's not that there are more complaints. Rather, it's that 10% of the complaints that come to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services are from rural consumers, but that number rises to 20% for Internet services and their quality.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Ms. Knight, if I understand correctly, OpenMedia is an independent company. You are not associated with any telecommunication company, as I understand it.
4:55 p.m.
Senior Campaigner, OpenMedia
Absolutely not. We are a grassroots community-led organization, explicitly non-partisan and explicitly not linked to any industry player.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
You are completely independent.
I understand that you were still pretty, how shall I put it—
4:55 p.m.
Senior Campaigner, OpenMedia
We are a civil society organization that's led primarily by our community members. If you're asking as to our relationships with our funders, etc., I'm happy to follow up with you directly, but it's not really my area of expertise.
4:55 p.m.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I'm not worried. I'm going to end by saying that you should be in politics, Ms. Knight.
Thank you.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you, Mr. Généreux.
I will now give the floor to Mr. Fillmore for five minutes.