I have been following the deliberations at Parliament’s Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU), examining competition in telecommunications. The transcripts of the proceedings are slowly getting added to the committee’s website and they can make for interesting reading.
Michael Geist sat in on the committee’s meeting with Minister Bernier last week and observed:
… much of the discussion fails to distinguish between communications services as the discussion frequently veers between local telephony, long distance, wireless, and Internet access without anyone bothering to distinguish between them.
The sessions also drift in and out of broadcast issues, beyond the telecommunications focus of this committee.
There are lots of opportunities for the committee to examine real policy issues:
- What are the directions for rural broadband?
- The role of government in adoption of advanced technologies?
- Going green through telecom?
- Strategic purchasing of advanced services by the public sector?
Do any others come to mind?
Will any aspects of communications policy be a part of an election platform?
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INDU, Michael Geist, Maxime Bernier