Jean-Pierre Blais, the CRTC Chair, delivered a major address yesterday in which he sketched out his vision of the Commission in 2017. He envisions a CRTC that is trusted by Canadians a defender of their interests and that places Canadians at the centre of policy making. Blais acknowledged public skepticism about the CRTC and pledged “to earn their trust, every day, in every action and in every decision.”

Blais provided a vision that hits on many issues that should form part of Canada’s long missing digital economy strategy. CRTC activity includes:

• the creation of a Chief Consumer Officer to ensure the CRTC “examine all the issues before us through a consumer-focused lens.”
• the creation of wireless code of conduct
• ensuring Canadians have maximum choice of providers and platforms
• transparency in costing data of wholesale services
• accessibility for all Canadians
• broadband availability of downloads of 5 Mbps and uploads for 1 Mbps for all Canadians by 2015
• enforcing do-not-call and anti-spam legislation
• a broad definition of creators to include anyone that creates, distributes or promotes content
• protection against cellphone theft

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