Telecom and Broadcasting - Commission letter addressed to various parties

Ottawa, 7 December 2020

Our reference: 1011-NOC2020-0081

BY EMAIL

Kenneth Whitehurst
Executive Director
Consumers Council of Canada
whitehurst@consumerscouncil.com

Lui Greco
Manager, Regulatory Affairs
The CNIB Foundation
Lui.greco@cnib.ca

Gloria Desorcy
Executive Director
Manitoba Coalition
chkla@legalaid.mb.ca

RE: Call for comments – Provision of paper bills by communications service providers CRTC 2020-81 – Request for information

Dear Kenneth Whitehurst, Lui Creco, and Gloria Desorcy,

The Commission received separate applications for costs from the Consumers Council of Canada (CCC), the CNIB Foundation, and the Manitoba Coalition with respect to their participation in the above-noted matter. This matter related to both telecommunications and broadcasting issues.

Commission staff notes that the Broadcasting Act does not contain any provisions for awarding costs for work related to broadcasting matters and that under the Telecommunications Act, the Commission may only award costs related to telecommunications matters. Parties are free to apply to the Broadcasting Participation Fund for the portion of their time dedicated to broadcasting matters in the proceeding. Accordingly, parties must demonstrate to the Commission what proportion of their costs relate to telecommunications, as opposed to broadcasting, matters.
Commission staff reminds parties that the Commission cannot predetermine the amount of time spent by costs applicants in combined telecommunications and broadcasting proceedings. It is only the individual costs applicant that knows the amount of time spent on particular issues and whether these issues relate to telecommunications or broadcasting matters.

In light of the above, Commission staff requests that the addressed costs applicants provide the percentage of time spent on telecommunications matters during the proceeding, justifying the method used to determine the division of time spent on telecommunications and broadcasting matters.

Commission staff requests this information by 15 December 2020. Any interested parties may file a response by 17 December 2020, after which the addressed costs applicants may file a reply by 8 January 2020.

A copy of this letter and all related correspondence will be added to the public record of the proceeding.

Sincerely,

Feyisayo Oni
Legal Counsel

cc: Julia Kelen - Julia.kelen@crtc.gc.ca

cc: Distribution List

Canadian Association for the Deaf (CAD-ASC) - info@cad.ca; wissam@cad.ca
Deaf Wireless Canada Committee - regulatory@deafwireless.ca; lisa@deafwireless.ca; calculusrocks88@gmail.com
PIAC - piac@piac.ca; j.lawford@sympatico.ca
Union des Consommateurs - abeaulieu-laporte@uniondesconsommateurs.ca
Canadian National Society of the Deaf-Blind (CNSDB) - mchugh.mm@gmail.com
Deafness Advocacy Association Nova Scotia (DAANS) - daans@ns.sympatico.ca
Bragg Communications Inc. - Regulatory.Matters@corp.eastlink.ca
Xplornet Communications Inc. - James.Maunder@corp.xplornet.com
TELUS Communications Inc. - regulatory.affairs@telus.com
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. - regulatory@teksavvy.com
Shaw Communications Inc. - Regulatory@sjrb.ca
Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel) - document.control@sasktel.com
Rogers Communications Canada Inc. (Rogers) - rwi_gr@rci.rogers.com
Québecor Média inc. - regaffairs@quebecor.com
Bell Canada - bell.regulatory@bell.ca

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