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Telecom Commission Letter addressed to the Distribution List

Ottawa, 20 October 2020

Our reference: 8690-R28-202006353

BY EMAIL

Mr. Kevin Contzen
Legal Counsel, Ministry of Attorney General
Province of British Columbia
865 Hornby Street, 13th Floor
Vancouver, BC  V6Z 2G3
kevin.contzen@gov.bc.ca

Mr. Paul Cowling
SVP, General Counsel and Regulatory Affairs
Shaw Cablesystems G.P.
40 Elgin Street, Suite 1400
Ottawa, ON  K1P 5K6
Paul.Cowling@sjrb.ca

Ms. Pamela Dinsmore
Vice-President, Regulatory-Cable
Rogers Communications Canada Inc.
350 Bloor Street East,
Toronto, ON  M4W 1G9
pam.dinsmore@rci.rogers.com

Mr. Stephen Schmidt
Vice-President – Telecom Policy & Chief Regulatory Legal Counsel
Telecom Policy & Regulatory Affairs
TELUS
Floor 5, 215 Slater Street
Ottawa, ON  K1P 0A6
regulatory.affairs@telus.com

RE: Part 1 Application by Rogers Communications Canada Inc. and Shaw Cablesystems G.P. for compensation for costs of relocating lines located on, over, under or along British Columbia highways

Dear Mr. Contzen, Ms. Dinsmore, Mr. Cowling, and Mr. Schmidt:

In a letter dated 15 October 2020, the Province of British Columbia as represented by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (the Province) requested that the deadline for filing a response related to the above-referenced application be extended from 2 November 2020 to at least 2 December 2020. The Province cited the following reasons for its request:

  1. The extension would allow the Province sufficient time to properly understand, verify and answer the allegations and arguments in the application;
  2. The responsible person acting as manager of Utilities Services for the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure at the time of the negotiations with Rogers and Shaw (the Applicants) is no longer employed by the Province, resulting in the Province needing more time to locate and review records about the negotiations before it can reasonably verify the information and understand the claims and arguments being made by the Applicants;
  3. The difficulty of locating and accessing relevant non-electronic records in a tight timeframe is compounded by physical access measures related to COVID-19, including limitations on the number of government employees that are able to enter their respective buildings and work for any duration on-site;
  4. The Province anticipates that it will take longer than usual to obtain review or approval of an answer to the Application, as a result of the Province currently being in a caretaker mode until a new government is formed – during caretaker mode, decisions involving policy or significant cost to government are generally avoided;
  5. Although the provincial election is scheduled to be held on 24 October 2020, due to voting measures related to COVID-19, determination of election results and therefore formation of a new government is expected to require more time than normal; consequently, the Province expects that it will not be able to obtain review or approval of its answer to the Application until the formation of new government after the conclusion of the election.

In a letter dated 16 October 2020, Rogers Communications Canada Inc. and Shaw Cablesystems G.P. informed the Commission that, in light of the reasons provided by the Province for requesting the extension, they do not oppose a 30-day extension to 2 December 2020; however, they also informed the Commission that they do not believe that any further extension is supported or justified.

In a letter dated 16 October 2020, TELUS Communications Inc. (TELUS) informed the Commission that it supports the Province’s request to extend the deadline to file an answer to the Application to 2 December 2020.

Commission staff is of the view that granting the Province’s request would benefit the proceeding by enabling the Commission to gain a more fulsome record. As well, Commission staff considers that the length of the Province’s requested extension (30 days) is reasonable under the circumstances and that granting it would be in the public interest. The deadlines associated with the above-referenced application are therefore modified as follows:

A copy of this letter will be added to the public record of the proceeding.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Michel Murray
Director, Dispute Resolution and Regulatory Implementation
Telecommunications Sector

c.c: Rudy Rab, CRTC, rudy.rab@crtc.gc.ca

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