Episode 6: “A Dangerous Game to Play:” A Former CRTC Vice-Chair Speaks Out on the Commission Plan to Regulate and Tax the Internet

For the better part of two decades, Canadian cultural groups have been pressing Canada’s telecom and broadcast regulator, the CRTC, to regulate and tax the Internet. The CRTC and successive governments consistently rejected the Internet regulation drumbeat, citing obvious differences with broadcast, competing public policy objectives such as affordable access, and the benefits of competition. That changed last year when the CRTC released Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada, in which it dramatically reversed its approach. Peter Menzies, a former CRTC commissioner and Vice-Chair of Telecommunications, joins this week’s LawBytes podcast to help sort through Cancon funding, Internet regulation, and the CRTC. The podcast can be downloaded here and is embedded below. Subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcast, Google Play, Spotify or the RSS feed. Updates on the podcast on Twitter at @Lawbytespod. Episode Notes: Regulate Everything: The CRTC Goes All In On Internet Taxation and Regulation Harnessing Change: The Future of Programming Distribution in Canada Credits: CBC News, Tax on Netflix and Spotify proposed by CRTC CBC Catherine Tait at Prime Time, @sdbcraig CBC News, Ottawa’s fight with Netflix reignites age-old debate — what is Cancon and who should pay? Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications, October 30, 2018 Canadian Heritage, Minister Joly – Creative Canada Speech / Ministre Joly – Discours Canada créatif House of Commons, December 12, 2017 The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 6 (transcribed by Sonix) Michael Geist: This is LawBytes, a podcast with Michael Geist