A new Government and what I am seeing

Ottawa from Unsplash

It's been over 2 months since a new Government formed with a new Prime Minister and a shortened front bench populated with some new and not so new faces. As this is primarily a blog about the developments in broadcasting and telecommunications, we will focus on what we know thus far from the Ministries of Mélanie Joly and Steven Guilbeault, the new Ministers of Industry and Canadian Identity and Culture respectively.

In the early innings of the new Premiership, my impression is that there is a significant level of control from the Prime Minister's Office and that perhaps the electoral result took the governing party by surprise. There appears to be significant gaps in staffing although they are currently being addressed. In terms of control, we have seen that the Prime Minister has established a list of singular mandates for his Ministers to focus on. That doesn't mean they are the only things, just that they are the main and immediate priorities. This makes sense given the general environment in which we are operating. The prolix mandate letters of the past are just that, in the past. The focus on the trading relationship with the United States is externally imposed as to some degree are corollary areas of significant attention across a number of industrial sectors, automobiles, housing and of course rebuilding the military. All of that while focusing and cutting the cost of the delivery for the public service. The relationship with the United States needs to be managed appropriately. That would seem to be the Prime Minister's focus and by extension his central Ministries' as well.

So, where does that leave things in terms of Broadcasting (which obviously falls under Minister Guilbeault) and Telecommunications (which obviously falls under Minister Joly)? With respect to Broadcasting, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is in the middle of a multi-phase public hearing process to implement aspects of the new Broadcasting Act. Without putting too fine a point on it, the CRTC has been conducting hearings to absorb online undertakings (streaming platforms, both audio visual and audio-only) into the labyrinthine thickets of Canadian content regulation without running into a host of landmines legal and otherwise in the process. We won't hear from Minister Guilbeault presumably anytime soon.

With respect to Telecommunications, we welcome Mélanie Joly to a new responsibility as the Minister of Industry previously having served as the Minister of Heritage and also notably Global Affairs. More on that shortly. The CRTC is currently engaged in a Public Hearing about nutrition labels for fixed broadband an endeavour spearheaded by Manitoba MP Dan Mazier. In fairness to the CRTC, it is required to do this and it doesn't seem that its heart is in it. The Chair of the CRTC isn't even on the Panel. The whole exercise seems to me to be completely unnecessary (isn't that what the Critical Information Summary was for?). Despite mighty efforts by cost award seekers and a dubious opinion poll by the CRTC it is highly unlikely that any actual consumer is asking for this or will ever read it or make any decision based on it. That's it for me on that topic. A good and readable analysis of it is available from my friend and colleague Mark Goldberg at his blog Telecom Trends.

Back to Industry Canada, the sprawling bureaucracy overseeing and impacting every industrial sector in the country. As I type, we await some consequential funding decisions under programs like the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF). It isn't clear exactly who will have responsibility for the decisions that need to be taken. Will it be Minister Joly or her colleague Secretary of State Buddy Belanger? No indication yet, but some clarity on next steps and decisions on proceeding would be welcome by funding proponents. These projects are important to making the broadband objective a reality in communities that are by definition rural, remote and aboriginal or a combination of all three. The problem with further delay is that the UBF has a funding authorization that expires in March of 2027. While that may seem to be a long way off, it actually isn't because the areas where the Program is now focussed have very short build seasons. Factoring that in, March of 2027 is on the fast approaching horizon. Some of these proposals feature a once in a lifetime opportunity to serve these communities with fibre to the home (FFTH). A great deal of effort and resources have been put to bringing the latest intake of the UBF into a reality by both the Department and the many proponents. It is simply time to act.

If I had a recommendation for the Minister of Industry and the Secretary of State for Rural Development it would be to buckle up and make some decisions since time is literally wasting.