Mégantic—L’Érable MP Christian Paradis was named Industry Minister earlier today and many will be watching how he approaches a number of active issues for new information industries, as he transitions from his former role as Minister of Natural Resources.
Network World asked for my initial impressions of the cabinet and I observed that we could see delays as the new Minister gets acquainted with the files.
With the Globalive court hearing today, I have been reflecting on an interview I had with Canadian Press last year when Minister Clement launched his consultation on liberalizing foreign investment in telecom.
Industry analyst Mark Goldberg, who also organizes the telecom summit, praised the government’s initiative but also said it is prudent to quickly advance the plan, because the leaving the future uncertain could actually hurt all of the carriers.
“Once you open a process and there’s uncertainty as to which direction is going to be followed, it creates an overhang for the capital markets. The ability of companies to raise capital during that interim period of uncertainty can’t be overstated,” he said.
“It could be extremely damaging to small players and large players alike to have a lengthy period of uncertainty when you’ve got such a capital intensive business.”
And here we are a year later with no progress on the file other than having been needlessly linked to the 700 MHz spectrum auction and a second round of consultations on the same issue. It has to be frustrating for Globalive, Allstream and others who thought there would have been more action to settle the foreign investment question.
Welcome Minister Paradis to the digital economy. Reactivate that @christianparad Twitter account. We’re ready for you to jump right in to lead a comprehensive national strategy.