There are days when the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission seems caught in a 1950’s time warp. Its focus seems manifestly misplaced and its mandate is struggling for relevance at a time when technology has surpassed much of its purview as well as its competence. The bizarre attempt to extract customer data from Netflix flopped dismally and the petulant decision to excise Netflix’s testimony from the record simply underscored the regulator’s inability to keep pace.
Just to rub it in, the government declared firmly that it had no intention to tax access to the service offered by Netflix to Canadians regardless of what the CRTC would decide. It would be more prudent all around for the regulator to abide by its own 1999 ruling not to seek to regulate Internet services.
Derek Burney & Fen Osler Hampson – Globe and Mail – October 28, 2014.
Derek H. Burney was Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. from 1989-1993. He was directly involved in negotiating the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S.; Fen Osler Hampson is a distinguished fellow and director of Global Security at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Chancellor’s Professor (on leave) at Carleton University. They are the authors of Brave New Canada: Meeting the Challenge of a Changing World.
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