Mr. Speaker, we will certainly be interested to review the amendment put forward by the hon. member from the Bloc. I think it is an interesting concept and we will be giving it full consideration.
I am particularly appreciative of the opportunity to speak to this amendment which has come forward.
The impact of this part of the bill is very significant. The concern which many of the presenters at the industry committee had pertained to this section of the proposed legislation.
Prior to this amendment the proposed legislation gave new, broad sweeping administrative powers to the CRTC which some witnesses referred to as a blank cheque or as being open ended.
To quote from the proposed legislation, prior to the amendment, at subclause 46.1 of clause 6:
(1) The Commission may administer
(a) numbering resources—
And it goes on to define what that means. It continues:
(b) any other activities that the governor in council may prescribe that are related to the provision of telecommunications services by Canadian carriers.
That was how the subclause read prior to the amendment. At that stage the commission could administer any other activity related to the provision of telecommunications services.
It is not too surprising that so many witnesses saw this as being a blank cheque to the regulator. This is an open door to more regulation, not at all consistent with Reform's longstanding call for less government interference and less micro management of the telecommunications marketplace by the CRTC.
In fact, it is not consistent with the minister's statement concerning this legislation in the House on November 4 when he referred to this legislation as a step forward in the government's strategy to promote competition, innovation and growth in Canada's telecommunications industry. He also stated that the objective of the legislation was to free Canada's telecommunications and information technology sectors to be competitive, dynamic industries.
We should all take note that the majority of witnesses to the industry committee were also concerned about these broad sweeping powers being given to the regulator. This kind of thing, where regulators can change the rules at any time in the middle of the game, chases players away. It does not attract them. The business interests in the telecommunications industry are no different and that was made abundantly clear to the industry committee.
This is not to cast aspersions on the hardworking individuals currently charged with the task of carrying out the regulations, it is simply a recognition of the nature of bureaucracies.
It is inherently easier for them to grow than to shrink and the open ended approach to the legislation, without this amendment, provided a whole new growth opportunity to the CRTC, a bureaucracy which in our view is already far too extensive.
How does the amendment to clause 6 paragraph 46.1 address this point? The amendment serves to clarify and define the new administrative powers of the CRTC. I would have liked, though, to see it go even further in clarifying its administrative powers. However the amendment is a move in the right direction.
The restriction applied is that the CRTC may only consider using its new administrative powers when it can clearly be demonstrated that it would “facilitate the interoperation of Canadian telecommunications networks”.
Telecommunications advancements have driven the changes we are all witnessing in this industry. Competition has driven down prices, rewarded efficiency and stimulated new markets and innovation. Some practices which were acceptable in the past are no longer practical. Some common services carried out by the incumbent telephone companies may be better administered by a third party which serves all the Canadian telecommunications network of common Canadian carriers.
Long distance and local switch network competition creates a valid argument for a neutral third party to administer things like the North American numbering plan, which will manage the assignment and portability of area codes and telephone numbers. In other areas is the need for a third party to administer funding mechanisms by which long distance revenues of the various carriers contribute to the support of local switch network service.
It has been suggested that some portion of common administrative functions concerning 911 or directory services might also some day be included as part of the third party administrative functions.
These administrative third parties, if and when they are created, will be under the regulatory oversight of the CRTC. Therefore the amendment constrains the commission to only getting involved in administrative functions which will clearly serve to facilitate some common aspect of network interoperability per the kinds of examples given. This is better than the wide open “any other activities” wording of the unamended version of the legislation.
I point out to the government, the CRTC and the industry another constraint which is applicable to the amendment. Section 7 of the Telecommunication Act deals with Canadian telecommunications policy. Item (f) in this section requires that the policy must foster increased reliance on market forces for the provision of telecommunications services and ensure that regulation where required is efficient and effective.
These new administrative bodies must be designed with management processes that reward efficiency and effectiveness. This is doubly important to the industry as well because the legislation in clause 6, section 46.4, allows for those performing these delegated administrative functions on behalf of the industry to charge the industry participants for the services provided.
Ultimately, though, we recognize that these costs would be passed on to the consumer, which further underlines the commission's responsibility to build in competitive business models rather than government oriented models for those entities which perform the common telecommunications network functions. It would reward those who increase the quality of service for lower cost rather than those who would have bureaucracy grow and always spend the budget plus a bit more.
In summary, the amendment constrains the open ended blank cheque which concerned us and the industry when the minister first put forward the legislation. It constrains the administrative powers of the CRTC and delegates it to only those areas which can demonstrably be shown to facilitate interoperation of the Canadian telecommunications network to move from a monopolistic environment to a more open ended and competitive model. Therefore I will be recommending that we support this amendment.