ARCHIVED - Letter

Ottawa, 20 May 2011

Mirko Bibic
Senior Vice-President
Regulatory & Government Affairs
Bell Canada
Floor 19, 160 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario  K2P 2C4

By E-mail: bell.regulatory@bell.ca

Dear Sir: 

This is in reference to your proposal for the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund (BAF).

Please provide the following information:

1.  We note your comments and proposal set out from paragraph 42 to 64 of your proposal and related to the corporate structure and governance of the BAF.

We note your commitment in meeting all requirements set out in Decision 2011-163, however in order for the Commission to assess compliance with all requirements, it needs the following information:

• a)  Please provide a table with the names of directors, complete home addresses, citizenship, date of appointment of each board  members and officer position as well as appointed on the board (if not appointed yet the names of the proposed board members).
• b)  Please confirm that the Independent Funding Officer which will act also as the Chief Executive Officer will a Canadians pursuant to the Direction to the CRTC (Ineligibility of Non-Canadians) at all times.  Please also confirm that this provision will be added in the By-laws of the Fund.
• c)  Please file an executed copy of the constituting documents (for example, Certificate and articles of incorporation (articles of association), amendment or amalgamation, by-laws, etc).  Please provide a draft if the executed copy is not yet available and commit to a date of filing of the executed copies.
• d)  Please file an executed copy of all related documents, such as Voting Agreement, Membership Agreement, Governance Agreement, etc. Please provide a draft if the executed copy is not yet available and commit to a date of filing of the executed copies.

2.  Please refer to paragraph 49 of your proposal where you state that “the directors must be Canadians and the 2/3 – 1/3 division of Directors and voting powers” [emphasis added]. On view of this:

• a)  Please provide a detailed explanation of what 2/3 – 1/3 division of Directors and voting powers entails.
• b)  Please explain how this provision complies with the requirement set out in Public Notice 1997-98 and 1999-29 and Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-833 (i.e. requirement that all decisions must be made by a majority vote).
• c)  Furthermore, please confirm that this requirement will be added in the By-Laws.

3.  Please refer to paragraph 59 of your proposal where you state that “an Independent Accessibility Director (and the Funding Officer) cannot be (nor in the previous three years have been) a director, officer, member or employee of any broadcasting industry Member or any Accessibility Group Member.”

Please provide the rationale for the above criteria, including how it will satisfy the Commission’s Decision 2011-163, stating that with respect to the Broadcasting Accessibility Fund, “these directors must be persons with disabilities, representatives of disability organizations and/or other parties with relevant expertise in developing or implementing accessibility solutions.”

In this regard, take into consideration that in Telecom Decision CRTC 2007-130 Establishment of an independent telecommunications consumer agency, the Founding Members of the CCTS proposed a similar structure whereby “people employed by a TSP or a consumer advocacy group within the previous three years be excluded from nomination as other independent directors.”   In response, the Commission determined that “the restriction prohibiting persons employed by a consumer advocacy group within the previous three years from being eligible as other independent directors is unwarranted.  In this regard, consistent with the Order, the Commission considers that the Agency is to be independent from only the telecommunications industry, not consumer advocacy groups.”

4.  Please refer to paragraph 68 of your proposal where you state that the “Board will establish funding criteria in line with the Fund’s mandate. The Funding Officer would then issue an RFP based on the criteria, and would conduct a preliminary assessment of the responses to the RFP for consideration of the Board.”

• a)  Please provide details and supporting documents regarding the funding criteria that will be considered in the context of the funding process.
• b)  Please provide a rationale and justification for the establishment of the RFP process.

5.  Please refer to paragraph 75 of your proposal where you state that “in the case of the BAF, accommodative measures may be necessary and additional funds could be expended for this purpose with proper justification.”

In Decision 2011-163, the Commission directed BCE to specify and provide justification, in its proposal, for any proposed departure from the usual maximum level of administrative expenses. Please provide an estimate for the costs of the fund administration relating to accommodation to ensure effective participation by persons with disabilities on the board.  Please also provide the basis for these estimates, for example, the number of anticipated meetings per year and other activities that may incur additional administrative expenses relating to accommodation.

You are required to provide the information/document(s) noted above on the public record by 3 June 2011.

A copy of this letter and all related correspondence will be added to the public record of the proceeding. Please note that further questions may be asked.

Yours sincerely,

ORIGINAL SIGNED BY /

Catherine Lemieux
Senior Analyst, Social & Consumer Policy
Policy Development & Research

Date modified:

2011-05-20