Christian Paradis delivered his first public speech yesterday as Industry Minister at the Canadian Telecom Summit. The media and attendees may have been hoping for a sense of the Paradis perspective on many digital economy issues (telecom, foreign ownership, spectrum, digital economy strategy, copyright), but what they got was a very slightly modified version of former Industry Minister Tony Clement’s digital economy speech from November 2010. That includes the government’s yet to be fully articulated position on telecom foreign investment and the forthcoming spectrum auction.

Several reports from the speech have focused on these telecom issues, suggesting that government is sounding “more ambiguous and indefinite” on telecom foreign investment. I don’t see it – the government has been saying the same thing for months. For example, the Globe points to this comment from Paradis calling for a:

predictable regulatory framework that ensures an appropriate balance between competition and investment

as evidence that lobbying from incumbents has had an impact on Conservative thinking.

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