We fight for that John Lawford, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

In this, the first of five podcasts on where the CRTC has gone astray, PIAC speaks with Ted Woodhead, Woodhead Regulatory Consulting Inc., former Chief Regulatory Officer and Government Affairs at Rogers Communications, about the public's and the communications industry's need for speedier decisions, more predictable outcomes and transparency in process and results. Ted brings his experience with Rogers, and previously with not only TELUS but also his time at the Commission to provide keen insight and measured analysis of what ails the CRTC. At risk of agreeing too much, we turn the conversation to the Rogers-Shaw merger, where Ted gamely defends the the deal after some mild criticism, before we turn to whether prices for wireless are really coming down (they're not), but Ted argues they clearly are - a new take on a Canadian debate for the ages.

We recap the inaugural appearance of Professor Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, before the CRTC, in which his statement and answers to the Commissioners' questions maybe revealed more about CRTC assumptions about the public interest and consumer interest than about how much money should go to whom under the new version of the Broadcasting Act.

PIAC speaks with George Burger, VMedia Chief Operating Officer, about the post-Rogers-Shaw competitive environment and why VMedia's acquisition by Quebecor Media Inc, is different, and better, for consumers than all of the other acquisitions of independent ISPs that followed. George is very convincing and he almost had us there, hoping against hope.
In any case, we troll through the wreckage of the Canadian Internet market after its torpedoing by the CRTC's wholesale Internet rate reversal in 2021 and to some extent the prospects for Freedom to be good again. We'll see.

Ben Klass rejoins the podcast to discuss the dramatic holiday time decision(s) of the Competition Tribunal of Canada allowing (?) the merger of Rogers and Shaw, the Competition Bureau's instant stay and appeal of the CT decision and the upcoming Federal Court of Appeal hearing on the deal. We opine about the state of the market if the Competition Tribunal decision stands. It's not good folks.

Globalive's Simon Lockie joins the podcast to give the inside scoop on a past and future competitor's efforts to start a fourth national wireless company and whether Globalive can acquire Shaw's "Freedom Mobile" assets if Shaw (or Rogers) must sell them to obtain regulatory approval of the larger Rogers-Shaw deal, which is now before the Competition Tribunal.

We discuss Bill C-27, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, Personal um, something AI and a tribunal, I think? It does not matter, because the federal government took the last bill ('the other' Bill C-11) to try to replace the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and MADE IT WORSE. Wow.