Telecoms say Calgary has no grounds to appeal bylaw case

The country’s largest telecoms are telling the Federal Court that the City of Calgary shouldn’t be allowed to appeal a CRTC decision on whether the city’s new bylaw binds the carriers on infrastructure builds, while the city is arguing that the telecoms are still getting the issues wrong. In February, the city filed an application asking the Federal Court to relook at a case that seeks to determine whether a new city bylaw setting out access to telecom infrastructure builds would allow the municipality to give consent for that access. The CRTC denied the application earlier this year on the basis that the telecoms didn’t agree to the terms of the law, triggering the judicial review request. In a submission to the court, the large telecoms including BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., and Telus Corp., argued the CRTC was right in not making a decision declaring that the new bylaw bound the city and the telecoms because the telecoms didn’t agree to the terms in it anway, making such a determination of no use. But in a response to the submission, Calgary said the purpose of its application to the CRTC was to determine if the city could use the bylaw as a form of consent under section 43(3), not to bind them to the terms of the bylaw. The rationale, they said in the letter dated April 10, is: “if the Bylaw was approved as an appropriate form of consent, dialogue with the Carriers could be conducted.” If it is not, they could move on to establish terms for a Municipal Access Agreement, they added. Crucially, the city argues that the telecoms conflated consent with a determination that the bylaw can be used for agreements. The telecoms neglected to mention a section of that bylaw, it argues, that includes a dispute resolution mechanism, which would allow the telecoms to seek a “governmental authority” remedy in the event they don’t agree with some terms of the bylaw. “That consent on the part of the should never have been a determinative consideration, as the Application did nothing to erode the rights as provided for in section 43(4)” of the Telecommunications Act “to the extent of there being disagreement.” For years, some of the biggest telecoms have been asking for a single federal body to govern access to city infrastructure for 5G technology. The issue has been raised, including by the CRTC, in submissions to a government-appointed panel studying the country’s communications laws. The Wire Report recently learned that the panel has commissioned research on the matter. Calgary said in its own submission to the panel that the group should not get into the jurisdictional quagmire without a “cohesive strategy” or risk conflict between stakeholders.

Telecoms say Calgary has no grounds to appeal bylaw case

Brief | April 23, 2019

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Telecoms say Calgary has no grounds to appeal bylaw case

Brief | April 23, 2019

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