Second challenge to Bill 74 begins as CWTA goes to court

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) has filed a court challenge to a Quebec law that would force telecoms to block some illegal gambling websites, telling the court the legislation puts companies in an “untenable position.” In a French-language document filed Wednesday, the industry group asked Quebec’s Superior Court to determine the law is unconstitutional, given that it contravenes federal jurisdiction of both telecommunications and criminal law. The federal telecommunications regime is a pan-Canadian one, it said, meant to “ensure the implementation of a uniform and coherent system across the country.” Article 12 of Quebec’s Bill 74 “frustrates that objective, by creating a distinct prohibitive regime for Quebec citizens and usurping the role exclusively designated to the CRTC by the federal regulatory regime.” As such, the legislation is constitutionally invalid, it argued. The CWTA cited section 36 of the Telecom Act, which says that “except where the approves otherwise, a Canadian carrier shall not control the content or influence the meaning or purpose of telecommunications carried by it for the public.” It’s the same provision recently cited by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) in its challenge of the law. The advocacy group filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC earlier this month. When asked why the CWTA went ahead a court challenge, especially given the existing process already underway at the CRTC, CWTA spokesman Marc Choma said in an email that this is a "very serious issue that has multi-jurisdictional implications. We look forward to the outcome of both the CRTC’s determinations and the ruling of the court.” The CWTA court action follows criticism of the law by industry executives, who called for the CRTC to take action in June. In Wednesday’s filing, the CWTA asked the court to act quickly and rule on the validity of the law before it comes into effect. In order to respect the Quebec legislation, telecom companies would have to make “considerable” investments, which would be “completely useless” should the court end up ruling against the legislation, the CWTA argued. The organization has previously stated the law could have “huge” costs for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). In the court document, the CWTA said the legislation puts telecoms in “an untenable position, because in order to respect the provincial requirement, they must contravene” section 36 of the Telecom Act. It said that the “only way” for telecoms to follow the law would be to change how they manage and operate their networks in order to block access to the forbidden websites for all their customers, not just those living in Quebec. That would give a provincial law “extraterritorial reach,” the CWTA added. Former CRTC commissioner Timothy Denton said in a phone interview that the 1989 Alberta Government Telephones v. CRTC case — which ruled a provincially created phone company was subject to the regulatory authority of the CRTC — was the “start of the end of provincial jurisdiction in telecommunications.” More recently, the Supreme Court upheld that the federal government has jurisdiction over telecom, in a dispute between Rogers Communications Inc. and a Quebec municipality over tower siting. He said that it could be years until the issue is resolved. For example, the tower siting case spent three years in the court system, on top of the almost five years of negotiations between Rogers and the municipality. “It really depends. If Quebec is litigated against and Quebec loses, it has the resources of a state to pursue itself to the Supreme Court,” Denton added. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca

Second challenge to Bill 74 begins as CWTA goes to court

News | July 27, 2016

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Second challenge to Bill 74 begins as CWTA goes to court

News | July 27, 2016

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