Telecom and Broadcasting - Commission Letter addressed to Laith Marouf (CMAC)

Ottawa, 1 March 2021

Our reference: 1011-NOC2020-0124

BY EMAIL

Laith Marouf
Policy Consultant, Community Media Advocacy Centre
1861 Rue wellington,
Montreal, Quebec, H3K1W2,
cmac@riseup.net

RE: Request for information with respect to the application for deferral account funding of the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) in the proceeding initiated by Telecom and Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2020-124

The Commission is in receipt of the application for deferral account funding filed by the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) in respect of the above-noted proceeding. The purpose of this letter is to request additional information from CMAC regarding its applications for costs.

Before further consideration of the application may be undertaken, CMAC is requested to provide the following information:

The record appears to indicate that the claimants, Mr. Laith Marouf and Dr. Gretchen King have positions within CMAC as Policy Consultant and Secretary, respectively. Accordingly, it may be appropriate to categorize the claimants as in-house consultants, subject to a daily rate of $470, rather than external senior consultants subject to an hourly rate of $225. Please clarify whether these are paid staff positions within CMAC and to what extent the claimants take part in or control the day-to-day operations of the organization^Footnote1.
If the claimants do not have paid positions within CMAC or control its day-to-day operations, please provide details regarding their specialized knowledge or relevant experience, which would relate to the subject matter of the proceeding.^Footnote2

CMAC is to file a response to the request for information by 3 March 2021.

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

Sincerely,

Original signed by

Maha Temkit
Articling Student
maha.temkit@crtc.gc.ca

Footnotes

Footnote 1

CMAC may have regard to Telecom Order CRTC 2017-137, in which the Commission awarded costs to DWCC at the external consultant rate in finding that “DWCC’s members are not paid staff and [that] they take part in, but do not control, the day-to-day operations of the DWCC, as evidenced by the organization’s collective decision making” (see paragraph 29).

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

CMAC may have regard to Telecom Order CRTC 2015-130, Determination of final costs award with respect to the participation of the Diversity Canada Foundation in the Telecom Notice of Consultation 2013-337 proceeding, and seek to provide objective evidence that it was necessary to the applicant’s full participation in the proceeding to temporarily retain the services of an outside specialist that the applicant could not financially justify employing in-house, and that the external consultant possesses specialized knowledge or relevant experience that bears directly on the subject matter of the proceeding.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Date modified:: 2021-03-01

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Telecom and Broadcasting - Commission Letter addressed to Laith Marouf (CMAC)