By Denis Carmel
FOR MANY YEARS, deploying fibre has been a priority for the Government of Québec.
But the delays in interconnecting the various networks and utility poles, which were to comprise the backbone of the deployment of fibre across Québec, frustrated them to the point that a lot of the money allotted to the various high-speed Internet projects in the remote areas lapsed.
So, they decided to put together a coordination table that would have representatives of each utility company, including Hydro-Québec, sit down and resolve the issues arising from growing demand in the building of the networks.
After reviewing the various processes that were involved in attaching cable to utility poles, for example, and ironing out some technical difficulties, they agreed they needed an independent party to mediate conflicts and misunderstandings.
Suzanne Lamarre (above), a lawyer but also an engineer and a CRTC commissioner from 2008 to 2013, was appointed to the position of president of the Concertation Table.
On May 11, 2022, after 20 months in that role she came to an agreement with the Government of Québec that the project was in a new phase where less third-party intervention was required, and she would cease her contribution.
In a note to participants of the table, the associate general-secretary of the High-Speed Internet Secretariat, under Québec’s premier, said “In light of the obvious results reached by the Table, MS. Lamarre has concluded that her role as mediator to the various players was not indispensable anymore for the rest of the process.”
“We want to thank MS. Lamarre for her precious collaboration,” he went on.
The results he mentioned can be appreciated in looking at the intervention of Bell Canada in the CRTC process to examine the same aspect, launched in October 2020. “ … this demonstrates that although the number of poles reviewed has increased by over 50% in 2021 compared to the previous year, our cycle times have improved significantly,” indicated the intervention, filed in January 2022 (please see chart above).
To Cartt.ca’s knowledge, no other province has adopted a similar approach even though they all encountered similar difficulties.
We understand Lamarre will resume her law practice, which was somewhat put on hold for the last 20 months.
