PIAC Annual Dinner, Speaker: Vicky Eatrides, CRTC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer
THURSDAY, November 28, 2024 at 6 p.m. (eastern time)
National Arts Centre (Rossy Pavilion)

To purchase an individual ticket, please fill out the linked PDF form and return it, ideally by Monday, November 18, 2024, to Donna Brady: dbrady@piac.ca

To sponsor a corporate table, please email Donna Brady: dbrady@piac.ca for details. Our corporate sponsors and their logos will appear at this space shortly, as they join in supporting PIAC.

About the Event

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre is thrilled to announce our Annual Dinner 2024, to be held on Thursday, November 28, 2024 at 6 p.m. at the National Arts Centre in the Rossy Pavilion. Registration is now open and details can be found below.

PIAC’s Annual Dinner has a longstanding tradition of being a highlight of the year for advocates, regulators, responsible corporations and students alike. We even often welcome a politician or  exceptional community leaders to discuss issues of consumer protection in Canada at an incredible venue – the Rossy Pavilion at the National Arts Centre.

The Venue – National Arts Centre, Rossy Pavilion, 1 Elgin Street, Ottawa

The National Arts Centre is located in the heart of downtown Ottawa. Our dinner will be hosted in the Rossy Pavilion which features views of Parliament and the historic War Memorial through stunning floor-to-ceiling windows, providing a beautiful backdrop for the evening’s events. In keeping with the formality of the venue, we ask that guests attire in business casual.

Our Speaker: Vicky Eatrides, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)

In addition to a multitude of wonderful guests and a beautiful venue, this year, we will have the pleasure of hearing an address from Vicky Eatrides, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Ms. Eatrides was appointed to the CRTC in January 2023. She joined the federal public service in 2005 and held a number of senior executive positions at the Competition Bureau, Natural Resources Canada, and the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Ms. Eatrides held several leadership roles at the Competition Bureau over a twelve-year period, including Senior Deputy Commissioner in charge of enforcing criminal and civil provisions of the Competition Act. During her time at the arm’s-length organization, she developed expertise in telecommunications, broadcasting, and new technologies by leading merger reviews, civil and criminal investigations, and regulatory interventions..

The Dinner

Following Ms. Eatrides remarks, attendees will enjoy a four-course dinner. Dinner will be accompanied by a beverage of choice, and there will be a cash bar available throughout the evening.

There will also be opportunities to enter to win various door prizes throughout the evening. While this event is an opportunity to showcase our incredible speaker who will be providing important consumer perspectives concerning the world of regulated services, this collegial event is also a unique opportunity to bring together industry stakeholders who may also be opponents from time to time in matters of regulatory or industry policy.

The Music – Moonfruits

Both during cocktail hour and during dessert, we will be enjoying live music provided by the exciting Canadian bilingual folk band Moonfruits – who will be playing songs from their large repertoire of original songs. PIAC is pleased to support Canadian artists and content! More on the band, soon.

Consumer Advocacy Awards

During the event, PIAC will also be announcing recipients of its two new annual consumer advocacy awards: the Harry Gow Award for outstanding advocacy in transportation, competition and essential services; and the Ken Rubin Award for outstanding advocacy in privacy, access to information and civic participation.

Come Celebrate PIAC – We Need You!

PIAC has been active in the area of consumer advocacy for over 40 years. Our small team represents consumer interests in the provision of important regulated services on behalf of consumers, and in particular vulnerable consumers. Our staff will be participating and will bring attendees up to date on PIAC’s extensive consumer protection work. The Annual Dinner provides some modest fundraising to support the important work that we do. We very much appreciate your support of our mission to protect consumers and in particular, vulnerable consumers.

We sincerely hope that you will join us for this evening of great conversations, great speakers and great prizes in the beautiful Rossy Pavilion in downtown Ottawa. Registration is now open for individual tickets and corporate sponsored tables.

The post PIAC Annual Dinner – Thursday, 28 Nov 2024; Speaker: Vicky Eatrides, CRTC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

“I am honoured to take on this role, albeit at a very challenging time for consumers, and groups that represent their interests”, said White. “Across the board, Canadians are struggling to access and afford essential services and goods: housing and fair credit, energy, internet service, food, transportation, privacy and healthcare.”

John Lawford, after 21 years of dedicated service to PIAC, will be moving into the role of Special Counsel with PIAC as he transitions to the next stage in his career.

“It has been an honour and privilege to advance consumer rights and the public interest at PIAC. I am so pleased that Geoff will lead PIAC to important wins and many more honest fights that we will have to help Canadians in their everyday lives,” added Lawford.

“For over two decades John has been the heart and soul of PIAC and has created a legacy of important consumer protections for Canadians”, said Harry Gow, Chair of the PIAC Board of Directors. “On behalf of our Board, we express our sincerest gratitude to John, and we look forward to new directions with Geoff’s leadership.”

PIAC will honour Mr. Lawford at its Annual Dinner 2024 on November 28 at the National Arts Centre.

About Geoff White

Geoff White previously served as the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada, where he championed the interests of competitive telecom service providers. Other mandates include Director and Regulatory Counsel for the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services, External Counsel to PIAC, and Counsel and Senior Regulatory Analyst at MTS Allstream.

Geoff has taught Communications Law at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Common Law and served as an advisor to the Broadcasting & Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel.

Geoff holds a BA from McGill University, a JD and MBA from the University of Windsor, a BCL from Oxford, and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. He is an active member of the Board of Directors for Firefighters Without Borders and has previously contributed to the Board of Directors of the CCTS. He also works as an on-call firefighter for the Municipality of Chelsea.

About PIAC

PIAC is a national not-for-profit corporation and a federally registered charity that advocates for Canadian users of essential services in industries such as telecommunications, energy, financial services, privacy and transportation.

For more information:

@CanadaPIAC

gwhite@piac.ca

jlawford@piac.ca

https://www.piac.ca

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We are excited to announce our Guest Speaker is Vicky Eatrides, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

Please watch this space in the coming days for information on ordering tickets and a reveal of a special musical guest.

The post Save the Date – PIAC’s Annual Dinner 2024! appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

“Canadian consumers deserve a basic TV package at an affordable rate if they want or need one, as they need access essential news and information about their society,” said John Lawford, Executive Director and General Counsel of PIAC.  “The CRTC heard the voice of consumers facing higher prices everywhere post-pandemic and rejected this application as unnecessary,” he added.

PIAC and NPF argued the proposed price increase, initially requested by Bell Canada, Cogeco Communications Inc., Bragg Communications Incorporated, carrying on business as Eastlink, and Saskatchewan Telecommunications, would affect over 1.5 million Canadians, was unnecessary for the TV service providers given their other earnings on paid television subscriptions for higher bundles and that the basic TV service was intended as a social measure to ensure consumer access when over-the-air TV was left unsupported by the regulator and government post-digital transition.

Trish McAuliffe, President, NPF lauded the CRTC decision: “Seniors rely on the basic TV service to ensure connection with their community, for local news and information about politics and democracy and for entertainment when many are on fixed incomes facing other price increases. We were gratified that the CRTC both rejected the proposed 12% increase in the Basic TV price and the companies’ request to index that increase – which would have further eroded seniors’ access to broadcasting.”

The CRTC’s decision can be found here. PIAC-NPF’s submissions can be found here. PIAC and NPF also thank all Canadian consumers and seniors who took the time to comment to the CRTC.

For more information, please contact:

John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
tel: 1-613-562-4002 ext. 125

cell: 1-613-447-8125

jlawford@piac.ca

https://www.piac.ca

Trish McAuliffe

President

National Pensioners Federation

1-905-706-5806

Trish.mcauliffe@npfmail.ca

https://nationalpensionersfederation.ca

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The post CRTC Keeps Basic TV Service Affordable for Seniors and Consumers appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

Following the announcement last week by the Broadcasting Participation Fund/ (BPF-FPR) of the near-complete depletion of its financial base and its plan to suspend its operations in August 2023, six of Canada’s non-profit, public-interest organizations have asked the CRTC to enable the fund to continue operations. Since its establishment by broadcasters ten years ago, the BPF-FPR has enabled more than 30 civil-society organizations to participate in over 100 CRTC proceedings on behalf of consumers and the public interest – including in last year’s application by Canada’s largest TV program distributors to raise the price they charge subscribers for basic cable and satellite service by 12%. 

“The CRTC can order public-interest organizations’ costs in its telecom proceedings to be paid by the companies involved in those proceedings,” explained John Lawford, the Executive Director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, “but it does not yet have that same power in broadcasting. Creating the BPF in 2011 with funding from two broadcasters has enabled groups like PIAC to undertake legal work in broadcasting matters, especially when these affect the prices paid by subscribers to cable and satellite TV.” Reimbursing the costs of civil-society organizations such as PIAC, the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC), Consumers’ Association of Canada (Manitoba) and the Union des consommateurs to participate in CRTC broadcasting matters has meant that its proceedings include a greater range of arguments, evidence such as surveys and recommendations that reflect Canadians’ interests and concerns. The near-depletion of its fund has led the BPF-FPR to reduce any payments it approves by 25%. 

In March 2022 the CRTC required Rogers Communications Inc. to direct $725,439 to the BPF-FPR, spread over three unspecified years. PIAC, Option consommateurs, Consumers’ Association of Canada (Manitoba), FRPC, and the Union des consommateurs are asking the CRTC to ensure that Rogers directs the full amount set out in it Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2022-76 to the BPF-FPR before September 2023 to ensure that civil-society organizations will be able to continue to advocate on behalf of the public interest in broadcasting. The Part 1 application filed with the CRTC is available from PIAC and FRPC. 

Contact: 

Monica Auer execdir@frpc.net 

Executive Director @frpc_frpc 

Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) frpc.net 

John Lawford

Executive Director and General Counsel

PIAC

jlawford@piac.ca

The post Public-interest organizations ask CRTC to stabilize only fund that supports their participation in its broadcasting proceedings appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

“Consumers now face a decade of competitive winter, with higher cellphone, home Internet, cable, satellite and Internet TV and home phone prices,” said John Lawford, Executive Director and General Counsel of PIAC. “This Decision represents a failure of every promise of the federal government to lower prices, every promise of the competition regulator to block the merger and improve competition in telecommunications and the failure of the quasi-judicial overseer, the Competition Bureau to see the issue from a consumer viewpoint as well.”

PIAC together with the National Pensioners Federation (NPF) have consistently argued against the merger due to concerns with excessive concentration and scale in several key communications consumer markets, both regional and national.

PIAC also has argued for improvements to the Competition Act that would assist the regulator in opposing major mergers affecting consumer welfare, including a repeal of the “efficiencies defence”, among other improvements.

PIAC and NPF will now study the full Decision when available and consider responses and options on behalf of consumers and seniors.

For more information, please contact:

John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
(613) 562-4002 ext. 125
jlawford@piac.ca
https://www.piac.ca

The post Rogers-Shaw Merger Approval Signals Decade of Competitive Winter for Consumers appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

“The industry has an obligation to refer customers to the CCTS when their complaint is escalated and not resolved adequately, but the CCTS found in nearly 9 out of 10 of these cases they do not,” noted John Lawford, PIAC’s Executive Director and General Counsel. “The CCTS should count these failures to refer as an additional complaint – as is done in Australia,” he added.

PIAC also noted the disturbing spike in a new type of complaint: consumers who do not realize their cellphones may have hundreds or thousands of dollars remaining payable even when the nominal term of their contract is over or they wish to switch to a competitor mid-contract.

“The problem of non-transparent financing for ultra-high cost cellphones is the next huge consumer trap, and one that destroys the Wireless Code” added Lawford, noting that nearly all new wireless contracts in Canada with a smartphone are now sold under this billing structure.

Consumers continue to be disappointed with the effect of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) other codes of conduct, the “Internet Code” and “TV Service Provider Code” as neither limits the communications companies’ ability to change prices of service mid-contract, provided consumers are informed in advance of such increases. This is reflected in the Annual Report 2021-22’s sections on these Codes, which demonstrate only a few minor transparency breaches despite numerous attempted complaints under these Codes.

PIAC further calls upon the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services to change to an easier to remember name for consumers, such as the “Communications Ombudsman”.

For more information, please contact:

John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
1-613-562-4002 ext. 125
jlawford@piac.ca

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The post CCTS Annual Report 2021-22 Shows Lack of Public Awareness appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

NPF and PIAC had filed its own Petition to Cabinet to set aside the decision, arguing the CRTC had not considered the interests of citizens and consumers, in particular seniors, in the continuing role of CBC/SRC in maintaining the Canadian broadcasting system,  in particular, linear TV and radio services.

“PIAC is very pleased that Cabinet overturned the flawed CRTC decision on CBC/Radio Canada’s licences and we look forward to arguing at the re-hearing for adequate Canadian content to be produced and available to all Canadians no matter what platform they use to affordably access our national public broadcaster,” said John Lawford, counsel to PIAC and NPF. “We trust the CRTC’s new decision will now fit with the new broadcasting regime under Bill C-11,” he added.

The Cabinet decision noted in particular the importance of CBC/RC to Canadians for the delivery of Canadian content, including local and national news, original French-language programming, and programming produced by independent producers, in both official languages.

“Seniors need to be informed, and connected to other Canadians – CBC is crucial to their day,” added Trish McAuliffe, President of NPF. “We are pleased the Cabinet understood the depth of seniors commitment to our national public broadcaster.”

For more information:

Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
(613) 562-4002 ext. 125
jlawford@piac.ca

National Pensioners Federation

Trish McAuliffe
President
National Pensioners Federation
905-706-5806
Trish.mcauliffe@npfmail.ca

The post PIAC and NPF welcome Cabinet granting Petition to reverse CBC licences decision appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

The post PIAC remarks to Senate TRCM Committee on Bill C-11 appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

“The CRTC removed the requirement for CBC and Radio-Canada to actually exhibit Canadian content on their regular TV stations, in the hope that CBC/RC could go ‘whole hog’ on moving their TV productions online,” said John Lawford, counsel to PIAC and NPF. “We said no, you cannot allow CBC/RC to jump cut from regular TV to online without considering Canadians’, and in particular seniors’, reliance on CBC/RC’s traditional TV service, especially for local news,” he added.

The Petition underlines the importance of CBC/RC to Canadians for the delivery of Canadian content, including local and national news, programs of national interest, and kids programming, in both official languages and the CRTC’s rushed and ill-considered removal of requirements to ensure Canada’s national public service broadcaster continues to broadcast this programming to Canadians on TV services they know and use every day.

“You have to meet people where they are; that just shows respect for all Canadians, especially our seniors,” added Trish McAuliffe, President of NPF.

Petition here.

For more information:

Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

John Lawford
Executive Director and General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
(613) 562-4002 ext. 125
jlawford@piac.ca

National Pensioners Federation

Trish McAuliffe
President
National Pensioners Federation
905-706-5806
Trish.mcauliffe@npfmail.ca

The post NPF and PIAC file Petition to Cabinet to Set Aside CBC Licence Decision appeared first on Public Interest Advocacy Centre.