OTTAWA – The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, has his work cut out for him with the continuation of former Minister Mélanie Joly’s work on the renewal of the Broadcasting, Telecom, Radiocommunication and Copyright Acts, in collaboration with ISED Minister Bains.
We note that those Legislative reviews were absent from Joly’s original mandate letter issued on November 12th, 2015. Also included in this new mandate letter:
- “Work with the Minister of Finance to implement Budget 2018 commitments to support local journalism and developing business models that better facilitate private giving and philanthropic support for trusted, professional non-profit journalism and local news.
- Work with media organizations to consider how the government can further support the transition to digital media.”
Of the 11 items contained in the letter, another one also stands out: “Work with the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government, and the Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Accessibility, to ensure that the government’s advertising budget better supports Canadian content providers and platforms.”
Hmmm. Wondering if that refers to closing this particular loophole that Cartt.ca has written about…
Navdeep Bains’s mandate letter at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada remains the one he received in November 2015. The only item of interest to our readers remains “Increase high-speed broadband coverage and work to support competition, choice and availability of services, and foster a strong investment environment for telecommunications services to keep Canada at the leading edge of the digital economy.”
Finally, the Minister of Seniors, Filomena Tassi, has this language within her mandate letter: “Support the Ministers of Finance and Innovation, Science and Economic Development on the design and implementation of initiatives to better protect consumers, particularly seniors, from high-pressure sales tactics, overbilling, fraud and other potential harms in dealing with financial institutions and telecommunications companies.”
