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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.

Post-Rogers-Shaw: A New Hope?

Well, we are back after a long hiatus (sorry, stuff going on in Canadian communications!) to survey the competitive landscape after the Rogers-Shaw deal closed in Spring of 2023 – two years and 15 days after being announced.

We speak with George Burger, Chief Operating Officer, about the Canadian home Internet market post-Rogers-Shaw; why VMedia and Videotron (Quebecor) are a strong independent disrupter outside Québec that will only help consumers, and why the wireless market may just reward us with a strong 4th player (yes, please!).

Not quite sure if it’s going to come true, but hopium at this stage is good.

We end with a dunk on those people who thought Bill C-11 meant more money for Canadian creators.  Turns out traditional broadcasters are not as keen on funding it when they think someone else will pay.

Click here for the podcast or find it on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, etc etc

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OTTAWA, March 31, 2023 – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) reacted skeptically to today’s announcement of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry permitting the transfer of spectrum of Freedom Mobile to Vidéotron Limitée as the final step in Rogers Communications Inc.’s acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc., subject to a ‘contract with Canadians’ that contains certain conditions.

“The promise is a ‘new national fourth player’ wireless company and lower prices for cellphone service – this is smoke and mirrors,” said John Lawford, Executive Director and General Counsel at PIAC. “We do not believe the conditions obtained by the Minister can counteract the anti-competitive effects of this merger on Canadians, and will lead to another decade of high wireless prices for Canadians,” he added.

The conditions on Vidéotron and Rogers are outlined in a set of agreements with the federal government.  Many of the conditions, such as 5G investment and commitments to indigenous and rural connectivity were already announced as part of the original Rogers-Shaw merger and are not new. Others, such as the creation of “3000 new jobs” and a Calgary regional headquarters for Rogers have no clear timeline and it is unclear if they will lead to job reductions elsewhere in the country or forced relocations of present Rogers employees.

The deal also has market distorting elements, such as a commitment by Vidéotron to offer “plans that are comparable to those currently available in Quebec, and offer options at least 20% cheaper than those made available by the major players” and “increase data allotments of existing Freedom Mobile customers by 10% as a near-term bonus while it invests to bring down prices overall”. PIAC contends that such an ‘unprecedented’ effort (in the Minister’s words) betrays a desperate attempt to control a situation that is beyond the capabilities of the Canadian government.

“Such commitments amount to deckchair arrangement on a sinking ship of traditional players in identical market positions,” added Lawford. “The saga of the Rogers-Shaw deal has demonstrated that the telecommunications law, competition law and Government of Canada have lost control of a key sector in Canada.”

For more information please contact:

John Lawford

Executive Director & General Counsel

Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

(613) 562-4002 ×125

jlawford@piac.ca

https://www.piac.ca/

social: @CanadaPIAC

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“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.

“No credit card surcharging on telecommunications!” exulted John Lawford, PIAC’s Executive Director and General Counsel. “The CRTC decision is also a warning to all other cellphone, Internet and home phone companies not to effectively double charge their customers for simply paying their bills with a credit card, which is normal,” he added.

PIAC and NPF argued that the credit card surcharge, which TELUS proposed to apply to certain regulated telephone services customers in Alberta and British Columbia would harm all customers but in particular, those living on lower incomes and on fixed pensions.

“The problem of inflation on necessities such as food, heating and communications is eating into our seniors retirement funds to the point it affects their quality of life,” noted Trish McAuliffe,  President of NPF. “TELUS did not consider the larger implications of its behaviour,” she added.

Lawford also noted that the CRTC decision is a bellwether across consumer markets apart from telecommunications: “This decision says to business: ‘just don’t do this’.”

For more information, please contact:

Public Interest Advocacy Centre

John Lawford

Executive Director and General Counsel

Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

1-613-562-4002 ext. 125

jlawford@piac.ca

National Pensioners Federation

Trish McAuliffe

President

National Pensioners Federation

905-706-5806

Trish.mcauliffe@npfmail.ca

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The post CRTC Denial of TELUS Credit Card Surcharge is Huge Consumer Win 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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New PIAC Report: Selling Speed: Reforming Broadband Advertising Regulations in Canada

17 August 2022, OTTAWA – A new consumer research report published today by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) updates a 2012 PIAC research project comparing broadband advertising practices in Canada with those in other countries. The 2022 report, entitled “Selling Speed: Reforming Broadband Advertising Regulations in Canada,” found that in the last decade, broadband advertisements in Canada have largely stayed the same, mainly advertising plans in terms of “up to” maximum speeds. On the other hand, under new regulations, ISPs in Australia and the UK advertise a tested average or a range of speeds, accompanied by consumer-friendly explanations of technical limitations, and detailed “suitability” information that help consumers match services to needs.

“In the last 5 years, regulators in Australia and the UK have become leaders in reforming how ISPs advertise broadband services to consumers,” stated Yuka Sai, a staff lawyer at PIAC. “Ads that show tested, average peak period speeds or a range of speeds is a lot more useful to consumers than ads that only advertise maximum possible speeds. Consumers’ actual experience does not always meet these high expectations.”

PIAC’s report also analysed developments in speed testing methods, including the CRTC’s two speed testing studies conducted in 2016 and 2019. The report also included input from various stakeholders, including ISPs, other consumer interest groups, and regulatory authorities like the CRTC and the CCTS. Based on lessons learned in other countries and through stakeholder consultations, PIAC compiled a list of recommendations to improve broadband advertising practices in Canada, and to ensure customers have adequate contractual remedies where services fail to meet advertised expectations.

To conduct this research project and prepare the report, PIAC received funding from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s (ISED) Contributions Program for Non-profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations. The views expressed in the report are not necessarily those of ISED or of the Government of Canada.

To see the full report, please consult the following link (English only): PIAC Report: “Selling Speed: Reforming Broadband Advertising Regulations in Canada”

A summary version of the report is available in English and French .

For more information, please contact:

Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)

Yuka Sai
Staff Lawyer
Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC)
(613) 562-4002 ext. 122
ysai@piac.ca

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