Dissolve The CRTC

5 Responses to “Dissolve The CRTC”

1. balbulican on August 25th, 2009 4:41 am [#]

   Seems like a silly petition to me. Their four comments on selection criteria for commissioners suggest that they don’t know very much about the CRTC, but are simply responding to someone’s very specific sour grapes.

   “1) The commission members must not be appointed solely based on their career history.”

   They’re not, although career history is a huge part of the selection criteria – quite appropriately.

   “2) The commission members must not only be comprised of ex-telecom employees.”

   It’s not.

   “3) The commission should be more transparent to the Canadian public about regulatory issues”

   Transcripts of all hearing, all submissions, and all depositions are available online. I am currently conducting research for a book on a specific aspect of Canadian broadcasting policy, and haven’t encountered a single roadblock at the Commission.

   “4) The analysts should be more involved in the regulatory process to ensure that decisions are handed down in a fair and balanced manner.”

   No idea what this means, or what it refers to.

2. Abattoir on August 25th, 2009 6:22 am [#]

   Agreed, the wording of the petition could have been better. It speaks to a feeling that the CRTC is not effectively regulating the telecom sector, allows the major players to run roughshod over their smaller competitors, is not encouraging genuine competition, fails to effectively implement their own initiatives, and generally does not understand the issues from a consumer’s standpoint.

   The straw that broke the camel’s back was the recent usage-based bandwidth decision. Over 6000 Canadians navigated their non-intuitive site to file comment, and almost to a person were arguing, pleading against Bell’s application. When the CRTC ruled almost completely in Bell’s favour, without even acknowledging this groundswell of opinion, it kicked some into revolt.

   People are getting upset over this newest $1.50 charge on their cable bill. My DSL bill is going up $22.50 overnight. How should we react?

3. balbulican on August 25th, 2009 9:44 am [#]

   Do what I did. Cancel your cable.

4. Abattoir on August 26th, 2009 2:15 pm [#]

   Not enough for me. My tax dollars are paying for this Commission, so I expect them to do their job right. I don’t think they are, so I feel that I should speak out. Simply cancelling my cable would be a quite ‘roll-over-and-take-it’ approach.

5. balbulican on August 27th, 2009 4:28 am [#]

   “Simply cancelling my cable would be a quite ‘roll-over-and-take-it’ approach.”

   Sure, if that’s all you do. Your final question related to the charge for your cable bill.

   Meanwhile, intervene at the hearings you care about.

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