Industry Minister Maxime Bernier introduced legislation in the House of Commons to give the Competition Bureau powers to fine dominant carriers up to $15M in cases of abuse of dominant position.
The proposed legislation seems to open the way for an increased role to be played by competition law in disciplining the behaviour of the incumbents, rather than the CRTC. This is consistent with the elements of the report of the Telecom Policy Review panel. The amendments to the Competition Act are specifically in the part dealing with Abuse of Dominant Position. Section 78 of that part defines a number of anti-competitive acts that should be helpful in a forborne regulatory environment.
Competition Bureau chief Sheridan Scott is already confirmed to speak at The 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit in June.
Update: [December 7, 6:25 pm]
I did an interview with Bloomberg this afternoon.