ARCHIVED - Letter

Ottawa, 4 November 2010

Reference: 8665-C12-201007229

DELIVERED BY EMAIL

To:   Interested Parties to Review of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2010-247, 30 April 2010, as amended (Telecom Notice of Consultation 2010-247)

Dear Sir/Madam:

Re: Organization and conduct of the public consultation for Notice of Consultation 2010-247

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 beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, 29 November 2010 at the Conference Centre, Portage IV, Outaouais Room, 140 Promenade du Portage, Gatineau, Quebec. The public consultation is expected to last three days. The Papineau Room will be made available for examination of the public record and reference material.

Sitting schedule

The intended start time for the second and third sitting days of the public consultation is 9:00 a.m. 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. The Commission is expected to sit until 4:30 p.m. each day.

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 appear 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. Parties that have filed joint written submissions in this proceeding are to appear together on the same panel.

Responsibilities of the parties

Parties are requested to note the following:

• Each panel (consisting of one or more parties) will be allotted a total of 20 minutes to make opening presentations. Parties appearing on panels of more than one party are asked to allocate the allotted time as they see fit. Opening presentations will be followed by Commission questions as necessary. Parties are requested to structure their submissions along the lines set out in Schedule B to this letter.
• 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. Please note that an audio link will be available throughout the hearing on the Commission's website at www.crtc.gc.ca.
• Prior to delivering their oral presentation, parties are requested to provide: (i) 15 copies of the text of their presentation to the Hearing Secretary for the Commission's use; and (ii) one copy of such text to each of the 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.
• Questions of parties by other parties and audio-visual presentations will not be permitted.

Final oral argument

After all opening presentations have been made, each panel will be allotted a total of 10 minutes to make final oral argument. It is expected that parties will respond to other arguments and confine their submissions 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 Shaw Communications Inc. and concluding with the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services Inc. (CCTS).  Parties are requested to provide copies of the text of their closing statements to the Hearing 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.

The CCTS must be present for the entirety of this phase of the consultation. The CCTS may be called upon at any time during this phase to answer questions from members of the Commission panel or staff in response to submissions made by other parties.

Transcripts

The Commission has made arrangements with StenoTran Services Inc. (StenoTran) to provide stenography services for the public consultation. Parties who wish to obtain same day or other services from StenoTran 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@stenotran.com. 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 15 November 2010, the following information to Lynda Roy, Hearing Secretary via e-mail at lynda.roy@crtc.gc.ca:

• The names and titles of the representatives who will be presenting at the consultation;
• The number of additional people from the party 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 Legal Counsel (Anthony McIntyre, Tel: (819) 994-7572) 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.

Yours sincerely,

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:

Robert A. Morin
Secretary General

Attachment – Schedule A
Attachment – Schedule B

c.c.   Parties to Telecom Notice of Consultation 2010-247
        M. Vallee, CRTC, 819-997-9254
        C. Millay, CRTC, 819-934-1358 

Email Addresses:

howard.maker@ccts-cprst.ca;  cataylor@cyberus.ca;  regulatory@teksavvy.com;  Regulatory.Matters@corp.eastlink.ca;  ml.auer@symaptico.ca;  regaffairs@quebecor.com;  abaker@cwta.ca;  regulatory@primustel.ca;  bell.regulatory@bell.ca ;  regulatory@bell.aliant.ca;  regulatory.affairs@telus.com;  david.mckendry@rogers.com;  david@davidelder.ca;  ctacit@tacitlaw.com;  john.lacalamita@verizonbusiness.com;  Regulatory@sjrb.ca;  kirsten.embree@fmc-law.com;  andre.labrie@mcccf.gouv.qc.ca;  piac@piac.ca;  hemond@consommateur.qc.ca;  blackwell@giganomics.ca;  david.watt@rci.rogers.com;  iworkstation@mtsallstream.com;  henryvlug@telus.net;  document.control@sasktel.sk.ca;  rob.olenick@tbaytel.com ;  regulatory@distributel.ca;  cedwards@ccsa.cable.ca;  babramson@mccarthy.ca; 

Schedule A

Order of appearance of public consultation for Telecom Notice of Consultation 2010-247

1.  Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services Inc.

2.  Public Interest Advocacy Centre, on behalf of Consumers’ Association of Canada and Canada Without Poverty

3.  Bell Aliant Regional Communications, Limited Partnership and Bell Canada

4.   MTS Allstream Inc.     

5.   TELUS Communications Company

6.   L’union des consommateurs

7.  Cogeco Cable Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc., on behalf of Videotron Ltd.

8.   Shaw Communications Inc.

Schedule B

Parties to the upcoming public consultation may address all relevant issues raised by Telecom Notice of Consultation 2010-247. To the extent possible, parties are asked to structure their submissions along the lines set out below. The Panel's questions at the public consultation may also be structured along these lines.

1) Membership

Should the Commission continue to mandate certain telecommunications service providers (TSPs) to be members of the CCTS in order to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of the CCTS?

• If so, to which TSPs should a membership requirement apply, and for what duration?
• If not, what are the indicators present in the market today that demonstrate that market forces are sufficient to maintain adequate membership in the CCTS?

2) Governance and voting structure

Do the CCTS's governance and voting structure ensure its effectiveness and independence? To what extent should the CCTS continue to require board approval of certain matters by special or extraordinary resolution, including the approval of industry codes of conduct and standards?

3) Mandate

Is the CCTS effectively fulfilling all aspects of its mandate? Is the scope of its current mandate appropriate?

What should the CCTS’s role be in the establishment of industry codes and standards? If, as certain parties have suggested, the CCTS is not the appropriate body to develop industry codes and standards, what should be the process by which codes and standards are developed and enforced?

4) Remedies

Are the remedies offered by the CCTS appropriate and effective?

5) Other Matters

Other matters associated with the CCTS, including

(a) its overall effectiveness;

(b) its public awareness and outreach campaigns;

(c) the transparency and accountability of its tracking and reporting on complaints and other data;

(d) the accessibility of its services; and

Date modified:

2010-11-04