Broadcasting Commission Letter addressed to M. Rae
Ottawa, 1 December 2020
BY EMAIL: thepenguin@rogers.com
Re: Notice of hearing, Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2019-379 (Ottawa, 25 November 2019) – Procedural request filed by Mr. Rae
Mr. Rae,
This letter is in response to a correspondence sent to the Commission dated 17 July 2020 in which you request reconsideration of the Commission’s decision not to add the intervention you made in connection with the licence renewal of CBC/Radio-Canada to the public record and to deny your request to appear at the hearing.
Commission’s analysis
The Notice of Consultation for this process was issued on 25 November 2019 (CRTC 2019-379) and the initial deadline for the submission of interventions was 13 February 2020. On 28 January 2020, the Commission extended the intervention period to 20 February 2020. The Commission notes that you did not file any interventions during this period.
The Commission reopened the intervention period for this proceeding from 22 June to 13 July 2020 (see Notice of Consultation 2019-379-3), while specifying that interested persons and any party to this proceeding could intervene with respect to the new information only.
On 30 June 2020, you submitted an intervention that was not filed on the public record because it did not contain any comments regarding the new information published. Commission staff wrote to you on 10 July 2020 to inform you of this.
On 12 July 2020, you submitted a second intervention in which you addressed the same issues you raised in your first intervention. The few additions regarding digital content did not concretely address the new information published by the Commission. On 16 July 2020, Commission staff wrote to you to inform you that this second intervention would not be added to the public record.
On 17 July 2020, you requested reconsideration of the Commission’s decision not to add your intervention to the public record and to deny your request to appear at the hearing.
At your request, your application was the subject of a decision by the Commission. The Commission notes that interveners were given almost three months, including an extension period, to comment on the renewal of CBC/Radio-Canada's licences. In addition, the Commission notes the press releases, social media messages, media lines/key messages and the Facebook consultation used to inform Canadians about CBC/Radio-Canada licence renewals. More than 10,000 interventions were received covering all aspects of the applications and questions asked by the Commission in Notice of Consultation 2019-379.
Your intervention was not filed within the prescribed timelines for the initial phase and the Commission is of the view that agreeing to include it as part of the public record of the proceeding without any justification for doing so would be contrary to the processes established by the Commission and would raise issues regarding the fairness of the process.
In light of the above, the Commission denies your request to add your intervention to the public record and to appear at the hearing of this proceeding.
Sincerely,
Original signed by
Claude Doucet
Secretary General
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