Deregulation in Canada: Telecom Sector Transition Challenges - The Competition Commissioner´s Views

Sheridan Scott, Canada’s Commissioner of Competition, presented her views this past summer on how the Competition Bureau ("Bureau") and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ("CRTC") should improve their working relationship in dealing with aspects of their respective jurisdictions over the Canadian telecom sector. In a speech delivered at a June 16, 2004 conference in Toronto, Ontario entitled the "2004 Canadian Telecom Summit", Ms Scott argued that greater cooperation between the Bureau and the CRTC is necessary to facilitate the telecom sector’s transition towards deregulation and a competitive marketplace.¹ Ms Scott’s views are particularly interesting given her prior background as counsel at both the CRTC and at Bell Canada, the country’s largest telephone company.