INDU committee frustrated with Rogers CEO Staffieri, summons him to appear

Members of the federal standing committee on industry and technology (INDU) are frustrated with Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Tony Staffieri for failing to appear at its meeting Thursday to be questioned on the company’s user contract practices, and have summoned the telecom executive to appear before it within seven days. If Staffieri does not appear before committee within those seven days, he could be reprimanded in the House of Commons. INDU committee members have been looking to question the company since October, after Rogers customers alleged they were being charged to pay more than they agreed to for certain services when they signed their contracts. The INDU committee met Thursday, Nov. 28 with the expectation that it would hear from Staffieri on service contract prices, but committee chair and Liberal Member of Parliament Joël Lightbound (Louis-Hébert, Que.) said Staffieri cancelled last-minute. In October, CBC reported Rogers customers took issue with what they explained were unexpected increases to the monthly cost for their TV boxes. Those customers expected their monthly payments to Rogers were locked in for two years after signing up for service, but alleged they were surprised by increases to the cost of the TV boxes. CBC reported customers with Rogers TV boxes received notices this summer explaining that the price would go up mid-September due to “rising costs to deliver the latest technology.” However, according to CBC, multiple customers said their TV boxes are the same ones they’ve had for years. READ MORE: - NDP critic calls for Rogers to reverse price hikes or be blocked from federal contracts On Thursday, Rogers’ Bret Leech, its president of residential product, content, marketing and sales with the company, was to appear by videoconference on the company’s behalf. But Leech did not get to speak because the committee decided to instead debate a motion summoning Staffieri to appear at a later date. Being invited to appear before the committee is a less-strict request for an individual to appear, while being summoned gives the committee more power to compel someone to appear. Staffieri had originally been invited to appear following a late October meeting of the committee. A spokesperson for Rogers told The Wire Report Staffieri could not appear Thursday due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict. BCE Inc. CEO and Mirko Bibic and Telus Corp. Darren Entwistle had also been invited to appear before the committee on Thursday to face questions alongside Staffieri on allegations on price increases made without consumers’ knowledge, after the committee unanimously agreed during a meeting on Monday, Nov. 25 to invite them to appear. Staffieri’s expected appearance had already been scheduled on the agenda when the other two CEOs were invited. Neither Bibic nor Entwistle appeared before the committee Thursday. Motion amended to include consequence for Staffieri failing to appear When Staffieri did not appear before the committee Thursday, New Democratic Party MP Brian Masse (Windsor West, Ont.), the party’s critic for innovation, science, and industry, put forward a motion summoning him to appear before Dec. 12. Masse made it clear he was displeased with Staffieri being substituted out at “the very last moment.” He said the company was given “exceptional time and leverage” to choose a date for Staffieri to appear. “That is unacceptable, in my opinion, not only just to this committee, but also, I think Canadians and consumers,” Masse stated, before adding that he did not believe Thursday’s meeting would be “very worthwhile at all” without Staffieri. “They switched out the witness, and today, I really don't have much interest in questioning Mr. Leech,” Masse said. “What I have an interest in is having the CEO here as I proposed, and was passed by this committee (in October).” Conservative MP and committee vice chair Rick Perkins (South Shore—St. Margarets, N.S.) proposed that committee members go a step further than Masse’s motion, pitching an amendment to it stating that if Staffieri fails to appear before the committee in a shorter time frame, within seven days, he will be admonished in a report sent to the House of Commons. The amended motion passed unanimously. “I think it's unacceptable that Mr. Staffieri thinks it's more important to do whatever it is he's doing than to be accountable to Parliament for the company that he is the CEO of,” alleged Perkins. Perkins had also included in his pitch that former MP and minister of innovation, science, and industry-turned Rogers’ chief corporate affairs officer Navdeep Bains be summoned alongside Staffieri, a proposal which was later dropped to keep the amended motion focused on Staffieri. Now, should Staffieri refuse to appear before the committee, the committee would send the following interim report to the House of Commons: “Your committee wishes to admonish Rogers Communications Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri for failing to make himself available to the committee, despite being invited by the committee on October 28, 2024, then later summoned on November 28, 2024, and that the committee insists that this witness-in-hiding appear before the committee for two hours before the House recesses for the Christmas break.” A spokesperson for Rogers told The Wire Report the company is working with the committee’s clerk on next steps for next week, following the summons of Staffieri, saying “we always work collaboratively with Parliament.” “(The) president of our residential division was available this morning to participate in the discussion as our CEO was unable to attend due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict,” the spokesperson said. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, Alta.) argued Thursday that Rogers has “received significant benefit from the Canadian government…through tax incentives, direct contributions, as well as a regulatory environment that makes it difficult for new entrants to come into the market. She added that she feels the escalation of a report to the House of Commons if Staffieri does not appear is warranted at this point. READ MORE: - Rogers, Cogeco, Eastlink ask CRTC to block Big Three from wholesale access Rempel-Garner also said the company’s actions indicate to her “that they don't respect me as a parliamentarian.” “That's something that I'll remember when they try to get meetings with us and come up to us at events and go, ‘Oh, hey girl, how's it going? Haven't seen you in a while.’ It's like, ‘Well, I haven't seen you in a while.’ If you don't have the ability to respect the committee time…why should we respect you?” “I think that we need to send a message. This committee needs to send a message to Canadian consumers that were on their side, not the side of the CEO,” Rempel-Garner said during the meeting. Liberal MP Chandra Arya (Nepean, Ont.), however, was concerned about setting an overly reactive precedent by including the escalated penalty for failing to appear in the same motion officially summoning Staffieri. Arya said a summons should be issued for Staffieri to appear, and then if he refuses to appear, another motion could be brought forward to send a report to the House of Commons, rather than Thursday’s motion assuming off the bat that Staffieri would not appear when summoned and that the report will be necessary. Liberal MP Tony Van Bynen (Newmarket—Aurora, Ont.) agreed, saying the committee should not allow its anger and assumptions to colour the purpose of the motion. “I think we should follow due process, and we are now giving Mr. Leech an opportunity to speak truth to power. I'm sure that he's going to let Mr. Staffieri know the mood of this committee, and I'm sure he's going to let Mr. Staffieri know the tone and the intentions of this committee” Van Bynen said. “But I think we're jumping the gun with the amendment that talks about the interim report, because we're making the assumption that he's not going to respond to the summons, and I don't think that's appropriate.” Ultimately, the amended motion to summon Staffieri and report back to the House if he does not appear was passed unanimously. Bell, Telus also expected to appear at INDU committee Liberal MP Vance Badawey (Niagara Centre, Ont.) noted that representatives of Bell and Telus were more recently than Staffieri invited to appear before the committee. Chair Lightbound said a firm date for their appearance on the same matter has yet to be set. “My hope as chair is that we could get them all together, because time is running out, so within the next seven days, ideally,” Lightbound said. Lightbound added that he felt it would be premature to add Bell or Telus to the motion specifically summoning Staffieri to committee, given that the Rogers CEO’s invitation to appear was decided upon in October, weeks before either of the other two were invited. hdaley@thewirereport.ca

INDU committee frustrated with Rogers CEO Staffieri, summons him to appear

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By Hannah Daley
| November 28, 2024

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INDU committee frustrated with Rogers CEO Staffieri, summons him to appear

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