ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter - 8665-C12-200711748

Letter

Ottawa, 26 October 2007

Reference: 8665-C12-200711748

DELIVERED BY EMAIL

To:  Interested Parties to Proceeding to consider the organization and mandate of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services, Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2007-16, 22 August 2007 (Public Notice 2007-16)

Dear Sir/Madam:

Re: Organization and conduct of the public consultation for Public Notice 2007-16

The purpose of this letter is to provide parties with information on the organization and conduct of the public consultation in connection with the above-noted proceeding.

Dates and location

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the Commission) will hold a public consultation on Wednesday, 14 November and Thursday, 15 November 2007, at the Conference Centre, Portage IV, Outaouais Room, 140 Promenade du Portage, Gatineau, Quebec. The Papineau Room will be made available for examination of the public record and reference material.

Sitting schedule

The intended duration for each of the two sitting days for this public consultation is 9:30 am to 16:30 pm . On each sitting day, a 15-minute mid-morning and mid-afternoon break will be taken as well as a one hour break for lunch.

Order of appearance

The parties listed in Schedule A of this letter have filed written submissions with the Commission and indicated that they wished to make an oral presentation at the consultation. All other parties to the proceeding and members of the public are invited to attend the consultation as audience members. The order of appearance for the public consultation is set out in Schedule A to this letter.

Responsibilities of the parties

Parties are requested to note the following:

• Each party will be allotted 20 minutes to summarize its position and to highlight its policy recommendations and supporting rationale, followed by Commission questions as necessary.   Parties are reminded of the 17 October 2007 Commission staff letter in which parties were requested to structure their submissions along the lines set out in the attachment to that letter.
  

• Following initial presentations and questions, the Commission may direct further specific questions to the members of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services, namely: Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership (Bell Aliant); Bell Canada; Bragg Communications Incorporated (Eastlink); Cogeco Cable Canada Inc. (Cogeco); MTS Allstream Inc. (MTS Allstream); Rogers Communications Inc.(Rogers); Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel); TELUS Communications Company (TCC); Quebecor Media Inc. (on behalf of Vidéotron Ltd.); Virgin Mobile Canada (Virgin Mobile); and Vonage Canada Corp.(Vonage) (CCTS Members).
  

• Parties are responsible for monitoring the progress of the consultation so that they will be aware of any Commission rulings and be ready to make their presentation at the appropriate time;
  

• Prior to delivering their oral presentation, parties are requested to provide: (i) 15 copies of the text of their oral presentation to the Consultation Secretary for the Commission's use; and (ii) one copy of such text to each of the six other parties presenting at the consultation. Parties are advised that these copies are to be provided for convenience only and do not form part of the public record of this proceeding; and
  

• Questions of parties by other parties and audio-visual presentations will not be permitted.

Closing statements

After all parties have made their presentations, parties wishing to make a closing statement will be allotted a maximum of 5 minutes to do so. It is expected that parties will respond to other arguments and/or confine such closing statements to the salient points of their respective positions. The order for the making of the closing statements will be the reverse of the order set out in Schedule A of this letter, beginning with

Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. (Primus) and concluding with the CCTS Members.   Parties are requested to provide copies of the text of their closing statements to the Consultation Secretary and other parties who presented at the consultation. Once again, such copies are to be provided for convenience only and do not form part of the public record of this proceeding.

Transcripts

The Commission has made arrangements with Mediacopy Inc. (Mediacopy) to provide stenography services for the public consultation. Parties who wish to obtain same day or other services from Mediacopy are to contact Mr. Bill Curley as soon as possible prior to the public consultation to make arrangements. Parties are responsible for the transaction and payment of such services. Mr. Curley may be contacted at (613) 521-0407 or bill.curley@mediacopy.ca . The transcripts will be available on the Commission's website within a few days after the public consultation.

Notification of attendance and further inquiries

To ensure that the public consultation proceeds efficiently, parties listed in Schedule A of this letter are requested to submit by 1 November 2007 the following information to Chantal Boulet via e-mail at chantal.boulet@crtc.gc.ca

• The names and titles of the representatives who will be presenting at the consultation on behalf of the party's organization;
  

• The number of additional people from the party's organization who will be attending (for planning purposes);  
  

• Telephone number and email address where the party can be contacted immediately preceding and during the public consultation; and
  

• Requests for accommodation at the consultation for people with disabilities.

Assistance to parties

In order to ensure that the public consultation may be conducted smoothly and efficiently, Commission counsel (Anthony McIntyre and Lori Pope, Tel: (819) 994-7572 and (819) 953-5079 respectively) will be available, both prior to and during the public consultation, to assist counsel or other representatives of the parties with regard to procedural matters and the practices and procedures of the Commission.

Final Argument

Parties are reminded that reply comments are to be filed with the Commission and served on all other parties on or before 23 November 2007 .

Yours sincerely,
Original signed by

Robert Morin
Secretary General

Attachment - Schedule A

c.c.   Parties to Telecom Public Notice 2007-16
        J. Macri, CRTC, 819-997-4595
        P. Kent, CRTC, 819-997-4057  

Schedule A

Order of Appearance for Public Consultation on Proceeding to consider the organization and mandate of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services

1.  CCTS Members* (Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, Cogeco, EastLink, MTS Allstream, Rogers, SaskTel, TCC, Vidéotron, Virgin Mobile, and Vonage

2.  ARCH Disability Law Centre

3.  Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic

4.  Consumers Council of Canada and the National Anti-Poverty Organization         

5.  L'Union des Consommateurs

6.  Canadian Cable Systems Alliance Inc.

7.  Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc.

*A total maximum of 20 minutes will be alloted to Bell Aliant, Bell Canada , Cogeco, EastLink, MTS Allstream, Rogers , SaskTel, TCC, Vidéotron, Virgin Mobile, and Vonage to make their oral presentation, as these parties filed a joint submission as the CCTS Members.   The parties may allocate the 20 minutes among themselves as they see fit.

Date Modified: 2007-10-26