Scott defends CRTC decisions, and himself, at Industry committee

In an at-times testy exchange between CRTC chair Ian Scott and MPs on the House of Commons Industry committee, the commission chair sought Tuesday afternoon to defend both the regulator's decisions and his own personal behavior from allegations that neither was in the best interest of the Canadian public. In his opening remarks, Scott acknowledged the CRTC's May decision to reverse course on rates for wholesale-based internet service providers (ISPs). "While I fully acknowledge that the new final rates are creating challenges for some competitors, I am absolutely confident we have done the responsible thing," Scott said, pointing out that the 2019 rates never came into effect because of a federal court stay. "Some competitors lowered their retail rates on the basis of that decision, but that was a business decision and a risk that they assumed given the appeals that were being filed at the time." Referring to language from the 2019 wholesale rates decision, Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith questioned Scott on the reversal. "That comprehensive review, despite its comprehensiveness, was incredibly incorrect, I guess, because less than two years later, you reversed course almost entirely," Erskine-Smith said. "How did you get it so wrong, and how can we have confidence in your continued work, if after three years of a comprehensive review, you get it so completely wrong?" “We were dealing with something like 150 costing models, 20,000 pages of evidence, over 100 rate elements to be calculated. And all of those are, if you will, contested. On one side you have parties submitting rates and defending their representation of the appropriate costing, and others contesting it and asking for changes," Scott said. Erskine-Smith also questioned Scott's meeting with then-CFO and now-CEO of BCE Inc. Mirko Bibic in an Ottawa bar in December of 2019. "Does it not give you pause – knowing that the decisions that you make are so consequential for companies in the space but for Canadians who care about affordability of an essential service in this space which depends in some ways on increased competition, not necessarily friendly to Bell and the big three – does it not give you pause to have meetings like that?" Erskine-Smith asked. "The approach the commission takes – I, fellow commissioners, staff – with respect to meetings is grounded in well established rules," Scott said, and added that "I meet with everyone pursuant to the rules." "I meet with consumer groups, with individual Canadians, with small broadcasters, with members of parliament. We meet as we must as a public body, and we follow the rules," Scott said. Along a similar line of questioning, Conservative MP Bernard Généreux said that "the perception of a meeting like that is very negative and it reflects badly on your organization," according to simultaneous translation. In an exchange with Conservative MP and opposition industry critic Ed Fast, the MP asked if the reversal of the wholesale rates decision was targeted at "improving the prospect of large telcos (who) would invest further and to a greater degree in the infrastructure required to expand broadband across Canada, especially in rural areas?" "I don't recall that being part of the record of the proceeding. As I've said, this was focused on costing elements, not on policy considerations," Scott said, acknowledging that incumbents had made submissions to both the courts and the cabinet regarding their investment decisions. Fast later referenced quotes from former CRTC commissioner Konrad Von Finckenstein that appeared in the Toronto Star in which Von Finckenstein said he was "stunned" by the wholesale decision. "I can't speak obviously for what prompted Mr. Von Finckenstein's comment, but what I can say is that I assume he didn't read the decision, nor was he familiar with the record that led to the change," Scott said. — Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

Scott defends CRTC decisions, and himself, at Industry committee

News | February 8, 2022

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Scott defends CRTC decisions, and himself, at Industry committee

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