With a hat tip to Rob Hyndman, this story on the future of telecom in Canada from the Globe and Mail:
The Harper government will announce Wednesday its intention to rewrite the CRTC's key ruling on Internet-based telephone services, a highly unusual move that could mark a big step toward a more open and consumer-friendly sector.
Industry Minister Maxime Bernier will say in a speech in Toronto that the Conservative government will again block the CRTC's repeated efforts to regulate phone services that run over the Internet.
The move increases the odds that digitally based telephone services will become even more common in the near future, which could be a boon for consumers. It also signals that Mr. Bernier will aggressively move forward with his plan to overhaul Canada's highly regulated telecom sector, even though the Conservatives have only a minority government.
“He's not backing down,” said a senior government source. “He's going to keep going.”
Rob correctly describes this as "a coming earthquake in telecom regulation," but like all earthquakes, it's not just the phone that is going to knocked off the table. This can set the stage for a major re-think about the role of government in the Canadian marketplace. A seismic shift away from regulation and paternalism, and towards free markets and real competition.
For many Canadian businesses comfortable in the coccoon of government regulation protecting their turfs, this will be very disconcerting. In particular, it will be interesting to see how a federal attitude towards free market competition plays in traditionally statist Quebec. Of course, it's not like Quebec doesn't have it's fair share of business people itching to be let free from the strings of government overregulation. Maxime Bernier represents the Quebec riding of Beauce.
Maybe that's part of the reason Bernier needs to be the person to take the lead on this. Quebec might be the part of the country that will have the most trouble adjusting to this new reality.
And you thought this was just about phones.
