CATA issued an alarming press release a couple days ago, saying “Due to Canadian federal government regulation, Canada has become the world’s worst industrialized country in which to invest.”
Stability and predictability are attributes of a regulatory and policy framework that would be considered favourable for encouraging private sector investment.
We’re running right to the wire with word from the Government on whether it will act on petitions to overturn CRTC decisions from last December. According to the Telecom Act, the clock on those appeals runs out today.
We had written a piece of evidence [
pdf, 1.4MB] that was part of the materials submitted by Bell and Bell Aliant for consideration in these appeals. We concluded saying:
We believe that a policy of fostering facilities-based competition continues to be the approach that best enables the continued evolution of regulation to increasingly rely on market forces to the maximum extent.
…
Government policy should be to stand aside and allow the marketplace to work.
Encouraging investment in next generation access facilities and allowing the competitive access market to determine pricing, rather than regulation.
On the basis of rulings by cabinet on those petitions, can we predict how the government might deal with the Globalive situation? Remember those stability and predictability attributes to encourage investment.
How do the policies of reliance on market forces to the maximum extent and fostering facilities-based competition apply to Globalive?
How will these interventions by cabinet contribute to Canada’s investment environment?