House of Commons, Questions on the Aftermath of the CRTC Decision for Bell Astral

MP Fran­coise Boivin asks “Does the min­is­ter agree that media con­cen­tra­tion is a seri­ous concern?”

Octo­ber 19th, 2012

Ms. Françoise Boivin (Gatineau, NDP): 

Mr. Speaker, yes­ter­day in deliv­er­ing its land­mark deci­sion on the pro­posed Bell takeover of Astral Media, the CRTC under­scored the vital impor­tance of media diver­sity in Canada. The real­ity is that the num­ber of voices in Canada’s media mar­ket has been shrink­ing in recent years, impact­ing con­sumer choice and com­pe­ti­tion. As the CRTC put it, this is not in the inter­ests of Canadians.

Does the min­is­ter agree that media con­cen­tra­tion is a seri­ous con­cern? Will he stand up for the pub­lic interest?

Mr. Paul Calan­dra (Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary to the Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage, CPC): 

Mr. Speaker, as the mem­ber men­tioned, the CRTC made a deci­sion yes­ter­day after hold­ing pub­lic hear­ings. The CRTC is an arm’s-length agency of the gov­ern­ment and, as such, the gov­ern­ment has no legal abil­ity to over­turn this decision.

[Trans­la­tion]

Ms. Françoise Boivin (Gatineau, NDP): 

Mr. Speaker, recog­ni­tion of the prob­lems sur­round­ing media con­cen­tra­tion in Que­bec and Canada is good news in terms of both the qual­ity of infor­ma­tion and the choices offered to consumers.

In the deci­sion it deliv­ered yes­ter­day, the CRTC empha­sized the vital impor­tance of media com­pe­ti­tion and diver­sity for Cana­dian con­sumers. How­ever, Bell is now ask­ing the Con­ser­v­a­tive cab­i­net to inter­vene in this process.

Will the gov­ern­ment respect the CRTC’s deci­sion against the con­cen­tra­tion of media ownership?

[Eng­lish]

Mr. Paul Calan­dra (Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary to the Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, as I just said, the CRTC held pub­lic hear­ings on this. It heard from over 9,000 peo­ple. It made its deci­sion yes­ter­day. This is an inde­pen­dent agency of the gov­ern­ment and, as such, cab­i­net has no legal abil­ity to over­turn this decision.