Menzies promoted to vice-chair; CBC’s Shoan named to CRTC

The federal Conservative government appointed Peter Menzies as the CRTC’s new vice-chair of telecommunications and former CBC/Radio-Canada employee Raj Shoan as a regional commissioner for Ontario, the Heritage Department said. In a release Monday, Heritage Minister James Moore said Menzies will take over the vice-chair position—left vacant since Len Katz’ departure from the commission last October—for a new, five-year term. Shoan, a former CRTC staffer and most recently director of regulatory affairs at CBC, was also appointed to the commission on a five-year term expiring in June 2018. A lawyer by trade, Shoan has earlier experience at the CRTC as a senior policy analyst and as legal counsel. He also served as senior adviser to former CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein in 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile. Shoan worked as director of regulatory affairs at Astral Media Inc. from 2008 to 2011 before joining CBC in March 2012, his LinkedIn profile says. In a message sent via LinkedIn on Monday, Shoan said he is likely to start his new job in “early July” and will work out of the CRTC’s regional office in Toronto. “I'm very honoured by the appointment and excited to return to the CRTC during a fascinating period of evolution/transition for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries,” Shoan said. CBC spokesman Angus McKinnon said Shoan was “an outstanding team player” during his time at the Crown corporation. Moore said in a statement Monday that he is happy that Menzies “will continue to contribute to the Commission’s work,” and that his “leadership and vast experience in the communications, media, regulatory and public policy sectors are sure to be of great benefit to the organization.” First appointed to the commission as a part-time member in 2007, Menzies has served as the regional representative for Alberta and the Northwest Territories since June 2009. Prior to joining the commission, Menzies had a 30-year career in print media as a journalist and manager. He worked as editor-in-chief and publisher of the Calgary Herald newspaper during part of a 16-year career with the paper. Menzies also ran his own media consulting business and served as a director of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce prior to taking a full-time position with the CRTC. As vice-chair of telecommunications, Menzies will be responsible for chairing weekly meetings devoted to telecom issues. Under the CRTC Act, he may be asked to “exercise the powers and to perform the duties and functions of the Chairperson,” if necessary. Former CRTC chairman von Finckenstein said Menzies appointment as vice-chair of telecom is an excellent one, and that he has been one of the “intellectual leaders” on the commission. “He will do a great job,” von Finckenstein said in a phone interview Monday. He added that Shoan was also a good appointment as there was a need for younger people on the commission. “It’s great to bridge the generational gap,” he said. In an interview Monday, Katz, the former vice-chair of telecom, said Menzies is a “perfect fit” for the position. “There’s no reason why he can’t step in with both feet and do a very good job,” he said. Katz said Menzies will spend “the next several months” catching up on telecom files in preparation for hearings scheduled for this fall and early next year. Those include reviews of the regulatory framework for wholesale Internet services and the commission’s basic service objective, which identifies services that providers are obligated to offer in remote and rural locations. “That’s a very technical file. I’m sure Peter will do very well on the file, but it will take him a bit of time to get up to speed on it,” Katz said of the wholesale services review. “I’m sure the next several months will be spent on learning the finer details of wholesale telecommunications regulation.” This week, Menzies is in Inuvik, N.W.T., and Whitehorse, Yukon, for a CRTC hearing on telecom services in the North. He will continue to represent Alberta and the Northwest Territories, as he did as a regional commissioner, until a replacement can be made, the Heritage Department said. The government has also started looking for a new regional CRTC commissioner for Quebec. In a notice of vacancy on the commission's website Monday, the CRTC said the full-time position based out of Montreal will pay between $139,000 and $164,500 per year. The commission said applicants should have "xperience in either the broadcasting, telecommunications or digital media industries" and "should possess a degree from a recognized university in a relevant field of study or a combination of equivalent education, job-related training and/or experience." It said a bilingual candidate would be "preferred." "Board renewals are an ongoing process and our government will continue to fill vacant positions," Sébastien Gariépy, press secretary to Heritage Minister Moore, said in an emailed statement Monday. The term of the current Quebec regional commissioner, Suzanne Lamarre, will expire on June 29. Industry sources told The Wire Report in February that national commissioner Tim Denton would also leave the commission when his term expires on July 31 if he was not named the vice-chair of telecommunications. The sources said the government intends to phase out the CRTC’s national commissioner positions. —With reporting by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca and files from and editing by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

Menzies promoted to vice-chair; CBC’s Shoan named to CRTC

Broadcast | June 18, 2013

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