There is now a possibility that the CRTC will again delay its implementation of Bill C-11 as it clears its schedule… again.
Throughout the debates on Bill C-11 during the last government, one of the arguments by Bill C-11 apologists and the CRTC was that implementing this legislation was no big deal. There wouldn’t really be anyone needed to be hired to help with administering it and implementation of this legislation was just little more than a low key formality more than anything else.
Critics such as myself have long pointed out, even back then, that you are talking about regulating the freaking internet. If anything, what the regulator is attempting to do is a fools errand more than anything else. This goes beyond the fact that it is stupid to expect to regulate the internet. What these morons were thinking was that regulating the internet was no big deal. In fact, some went so far as to say people like us, who were saying what a ridiculous task this was, were just people who didn’t know what they are talking about and the CRTC has this whole “regulate the internet” thing all under control. Unsurprisingly, that elicited a collective facepalm from people like us who knew just how stupid these people were being with their idiotic ideas.
Well, after Bill C-11 was passed, the CRTC finally had their chance to just do the trivial task of implementing this easy “regulate the internet” legislation. After all, it’s easy to regulate the internet and the CRTC are totally run by pros in this field who know exactly what they are doing. Those lousy critics know nothing about how government works, so they can’t really be treated seriously when they say that regulating the internet is not even going to be close to easy.
Now, there are two possibilities here. The first was that the CRTC was blatantly lying about how easy it would be to implement this. The second is that they legitimately had no clue how complex the internet really was and actually thought that it was no different than broadcast television (despite many experts pointing out otherwise). Either way, it seems that regulating the internet was proving not to be the easiest thing in the world. In 2023, the CRTC suddenly announced that they would be clearing their schedule for a whopping 2 years to implement this legislation. From there, they said that their consultation schedule will run until 2024.
For those who know what year this is, this timeline turned out to be much more ambitious than the regulator could handle. So, just over a year ago, the CRTC then made the decision to push the consultation timeline back to the end of 2025 – this year. Gee, CRTC, what’s the problem? Was regulating the internet a much more complicated task than you were originally envisioning? Golly gee whiz, who could’ve seen THAT one coming???
Well, it seems like the CRTC is still having schedule problems as they figure out this ‘trivial’ task of regulating the internet. Today, they are announcing that they are, once again, clearing their schedule. This by another year to 2027.
- The Commission renews the broadcasting licences for the radio programming undertakings and their transmitters set out in the appendices to this decision from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027.
- These one-year administrative renewals will allow time for the Commission to modernize its regulatory framework in response to the modernized Broadcasting Act and implement the appropriate changes. These renewals do not address any issues relating to the licensees’ compliance with the terms of their licence or their regulatory obligations. The Commission will consider the licence renewals and the licensees’ compliance at a later date. Interested persons will have an opportunity to comment at the appropriate time.
- The Online Streaming Act deemed obligations that previously existed as conditions of licence to be conditions imposed under an order made pursuant to section 9.1 of the Broadcasting Act or subsection 11.1(2) in the case of expenditure requirements. As such, the conditions of licence for this licensee became conditions of service which exist independent of the licence and continue to apply to the licensee.
- The Commission reminds licensees that, at all times, they may submit any new applications related to their radio undertakings where they can demonstrate that exceptional circumstances would justify the need to process them. As outlined in Broadcasting Information Bulletin 2023-278, such applications will be excluded from normal service standards and will be processed as time and resources permit.
Secretary General
Oops!
Now, to be clear, the actual consultation process hasn’t yet been delayed, well, again. Still, it seems that the CRTC is already building a contingency plan for if they need to extend the deadlines for implementing the Online Streaming Act. This is not exactly the greatest sign, but I suppose when you are already the subject of at least two lawsuits, one of which was recently allowed to move ahead despite the whining from corporate lobbyists, you can’t really be too careful in trying to implement an obviously unconstitutional law.
As Steve Faguy noted, this isn’t a small move, either. It just rubberstamps the broadcast renewals for over 400 radio stations:
#CRTC administratively renews licences for 448 radio stations and audio services until 2027 so it can give itself enough time to review its regulatory framework under the new Broadcasting Act. crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/… — Includes dissenting opinion from Commissioner Ellen Desmond
Indeed, there was one dissenting opinion from the CRTC about this move. For those wondering what it says, well, here it is:
- My colleagues have approved the administrative renewal of 448 radio programming undertakings and their transmitters for a period of one year (from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027). Of these licenses, 314 were previously administratively renewed in Broadcasting Decision 2023-230.
- As noted in the majority decision, granting this renewal would allow the Commission time to update its regulatory framework in response to the modernized Broadcasting Act and implement the appropriate changes.
- With the greatest respect to my colleagues, I disagree with this renewal in the current context. While the administrative renewal process may be expedient and provide the Commission with much needed time to deal with legislative changes, the renewals impose the same terms and conditions that are currently in effect. For many licensees, this approach may be satisfactory. However, there may be others who have been patiently waiting for the renewal process and for the opportunity to amend what is now referred to as their conditions of service. In some instances, the wait time has been extended to three years.
- The majority has concluded the administrative renewal process does not prevent a licensee from submitting an application in advance of the next license renewal should they wish to do so. Yet, in so doing, must demonstrate that “exceptional circumstances exist”. This is because, as set out in Broadcasting Information Bulletin 2023-278,the Commission imposed a moratorium on the processing of such new applications. In effect, absent such exceptionality, applications will not be processed, thereby leaving licensees with no recourse to deal with other issues. In most situations, an application to amend a condition of service will be deferred and not be considered at this time.
- Given the moratorium, I am not able to conclude that this administrative renewal is in the public interest at this time.
So, not everyone at the CRTC agrees with this decision, but it is the decision that they made. Some license owners are probably not going to be happy with things because they wanted some changes to their licenses. As a result of this decision, those that are wanting changes aren’t getting it. This is another sign of just how much the Online Streaming Act alone is gumming up the system at the moment.
Now, whether or not this ultimately leads to yet another delay in implementing the Online Streaming Act remains to be seen. There is clearly thinking on the part of the CRTC that this is actually a possibility at this point in time. I mean, the end of 2025 is inching closer, so it is entirely possible that this could happen.
