Conservative Stephen Harper’s Mon. victory in Canada’s national e...
Conservative Stephen Harper’s Mon. victory in Canada’s national elections, ending 13 years of Liberal Party rule, has carriers and analysts there alert for shifts in telecom and other communications policy. Since he didn’t win decisively, Harper will form a…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
coalition govt. In one of Canada’s hottest regulatory fights, the Canadian Radio-TV & Telecom Commission (CRTC) voted last year to regulate VoIP offered by traditional telecom carriers but not by Vonage, cable companies or other nontraditional players. In 2005 the old administration set up the Telecom Policy Review Panel (TPRP), which took 2 rounds of comments and is preparing a report on possible ways to change telecom oversight. One of Harper’s key moves will be to name an Industry Minister replacing Liberal David Emerson, in that job since 2004. “Everyone will hang tight and low until a new minister is announced,” Brian Sharwood, analyst with Seaboard Group, told us. The next big phase will be the TPRP report’s emergency, which will spur the new minister to introduce a telecom reform bill, Sharwood said. Action could be speedy, he said: “New governments, even in this minority situation, like to try and accomplish something early. They could probably get broad support for change, or at least across the Liberals, which is really what they need.”