ARCHIVED - Telecom - Commission Letter - 8622-C12-10/00

Letter

Ottawa, 20 April 2001

Our files: 4750-275 (L)
8622-C12-10/00

BY TELECOPIER

To: Interested Parties to PN 2000-107

Re:  Telecom Public Notices CRTC 2000-107 and 2000-107-1 and Letter dated 9 January 2001 - O.N. Telecom - Implementation of Toll Competition and Related Matters: Organization and Conduct of the Oral Public Hearing

The Commission will hold an oral public hearing in connection with the above-noted proceeding commencing Monday, 30 April 2001 in the Grand Ballroom of the Senator Hotel, 14 Mount Joy Street South, Timmins, Ontario.

The purpose of this letter is to provide information to the parties on a variety of matters relating to the organization and conduct of the public hearing.

Sitting Schedule

The Commission will begin the hearing at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, 30 April 2001, and will sit weekdays during the course of the hearing, with a normal sitting day of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

While the Commission does not anticipate that sittings will extend into the evenings, it may be necessary to revisit the schedule and sit longer hours on one or more days. The Commission notes that the hearing will conclude no later than Friday, 4 May 2001. Given the limited number of parties participating in this matter, the oral hearing should finish before then.

Order of Witnesses to be Presented

The following parties have advised the Commission of their intention to make one or more witnesses available for cross-examination. Parties should present their witnesses in the following order:

O.N. Telecom

Northern Telephone Limited

Order of Cross-examination

O.N. Telecom and Northern Telephone Limited have informed the Commission of their intention to cross-examine one or more witnesses of the other party, or have reserved the right to do so.

Each of the two parties listed above will have the right to cross-examine the witnesses of the other party. In the case of each witness, questioning by Commission counsel, if any, will follow cross-examination by the parties.

Final Argument

It is the Commission's intention to have oral final argument at the hearing, with a maximum time allowed of 30 minutes per party.

In addition to, or instead of, presenting oral final argument, parties may file written argument, serving a copy on all parties, by the later of 4 May 2001 or the end of the oral hearing.

Written reply argument may be filed and served by the later of 11 May 2001 or seven days following the end of the oral hearing. When submitting written final/reply argument, parties are expected to include a brief Executive Summary in point form.

The Commission's plans with respect to final argument may evolve as the proceeding progresses. The Commission will inform parties of its final decision in this respect during the course of the hearing.

Opening Statements

In the circumstances of the present case, the Commission will permit oral opening statements, not exceeding 30 minutes, by the two parties noted above, at the commencement of the time when they are to present their witnesses. The parties should file, as an exhibit, and serve a written copy of their opening statements on all appearing parties at the hearing, immediately before presenting the oral opening statements.

Responsibilities of the Parties

Parties are reminded that it is their responsibility to monitor the progress and content of the hearing in order, among other things, to ensure that they are aware of any documents that may have been filed in their absence, any changes to the order of presentation of witnesses or order of cross-examination, and any Commission rulings.

Similarly, parties should keep themselves informed of the progress of cross-examination, so that they will be ready with their own cross-examination at the appropriate time and, in the case of parties that have filed evidence, so that their witnesses can be called to testify in accordance with the order established by the Commission.

Parties must keep the Hearing Secretary informed on an on-going basis of their most recent estimates of the duration of their cross-examination of other parties' witnesses. This will assist the Commission and all parties in forecasting the scheduling of witnesses and cross-examination.

Record of Appearance

In order to assist the Commission, parties are asked to submit to the Hearing Secretary a Record of Appearance at the outset of the oral hearing. This will enable the Hearing Secretary to contact parties, if necessary, to obtain information or to inform them of matters relating to the hearing. Copies of the Record of Appearance may be obtained from the Hearing Secretary at the beginning of the hearing on 30 April 2001.

Examination-in-Chief

Parties are reminded that traditional examination-in-chief is not permitted at public hearings conducted by the Commission; rather, in accordance with section 21 of the CRTC Telecommunications Rules of Procedure, a party calling a witness should restrict its examination to the following:

whether the evidence was prepared by or under the supervision of the witness;

whether the evidence filed contains any errors or requires any routine updates; and

the qualifications of the witness.

The introduction of witnesses by parties should be brief, with little or no reading from witness' curricula vitae.

Witness Curricula Vitae

Parties should note that curricula vitae of witnesses are to be filed as exhibits with the Commission and copied on all parties no later than 25 April 2001.

Procedure for Introduction of Exhibits

The Commission expects parties to introduce exhibits using the expedited procedure which was adopted in the proceeding leading to Telecom Decision CRTC 94-19. For convenience, this procedure is reproduced below:

Responses to Undertakings

Parties must provide copies of their Responses to Undertakings to both the Hearing Secretary and to other parties in advance of their being introduced as exhibits. Wherever possible, oral or written responses to undertakings should include a reference to the transcript page at which the undertaking was given, identifying both the witness giving the undertaking and the party to whom the undertaking was given.

Before circulating these documents, parties should confirm with the Hearing Secretary the number assigned to the most recent exhibit. Parties themselves should then number the Responses to Undertakings accordingly, prior to distribution.

The Hearing Secretary will then enter the Responses as exhibits at an appropriate time by briefly identifying the party in question and noting the exhibit numbers assigned to various Responses.

Documents other than Responses to Undertaking (e.g. a document to be put to a witness in cross-examination)

Unless there is sufficient reason for not doing so, parties should provide the Hearing Secretary and other parties with copies of the proposed exhibits in advance. To facilitate recognition of a particular document, parties should ensure that exhibits have titles.

During the cross-examination of a witness or panel of witnesses by a party, the Hearing Secretary will track the documents put to the witness or panel of witnesses, and will assign numbers accordingly. This will not be done orally.

Following a party's completion of the cross-examination of the witness(es), the Hearing Secretary will enter as exhibits the documents that were in fact put to the witness(es) by that party.

Filing of Documents

All parties are reminded that, with respect to all documents filed at the public hearing, 20 copies must be provided to the Hearing Secretary for the Commission's use.

At the same time, a copy of all such documents must be served on all other parties present at the public hearing on the date the document is filed.

Assistance to Parties

In order to ensure that the public hearing is conducted smoothly and efficiently, Commission counsel (Peter McCallum,

(819) 953-2197) will be available from the date of this letter to assist legal counsel or other representatives of the parties with regard to procedural matters and the practices and procedures of the Commission. Legal Counsel will also be available throughout the hearing to assist parties with respect to these matters.

Yours sincerely,

Shirley Soehn
Executive Director,
Telecommunications

Date Modified: 2001-04-20