Weekly News (March 22, 2022)

Compiled by Kyle Wyndham-West, Bradley McNeil, Fizza Kulvi, Meaghan Wester, and Nick Gertler with Sara Bannerman, Fenwick McKelvey, Guillaume Dandurand, Marek Blottière, and Kevin Morin
McMaster University, Communications Governance Observatory

The Communications Governance Discussion Group meets every few weeks by Zoom.  Email organizer Derek Hrynyshyn <derekh@yorku.ca> for details.

(March 15- March 22, 2022)

Canadian News 

• [BROADCAST POLICY] CRTC bans Russian state-run broadcaster RT from Canadian airwaves (Toronto Star)
• [BROADCAST POLICY] Le CRTC débranche Russia Today et RT France (La Presse)
• [BROADCASTING POLICY/ INTERNET POLICY] Au CRTC de trancher sur la valeur culturelle de la porno sur Internet (Le Devoir)
• [DISINFORMATION] Melanie Joly vows to tackle ‘virtual battleground’ of Russian disinformation (The National Post)
• [COMPETITION/MEDIA CONCENTRATION] Rogers in talks to find buyer for Shaw wireless (The Star)
• [TELECOMMUNICATION POLICY] Xplornet in talks to acquire Freedom Mobile from Rogers (The Globe and Mail)
• [ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE] As more firms use AI and one-way videos to hire, one Toronto non-profit is paying short-listed candidates (The Globe and Mail)
• [INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY] The BlackBerry veteran who took on Google and won (The Globe and Mail)
• [CENSORSHIP] OPINION: SOH What is lost when universities self-censor (The Globe and Mail)
• [TELECOMS POLICY] OPINION: KNIGHT Elected MPs said no to the Rogers-Shaw buyout. Will Justin Trudeau dare say yes? (The Star)

International News

• [PLATFORM/ADVERTISING REGULATION] Meta sued by Australian regulator for allegedly ‘misleading’ crypto ads (The Financial Times)
• [BROADCAST REGULATION] UK watchdog revokes Russia Today’s broadcast licence (The Financial Times)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/ONLINE HARMS] U.K. officials face thorny task of defining ‘legal but harmful’ online speech (Washington Post)
• [PRIVACY/GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE] The government can seize your messages in secret. Lawmakers want you to know if it does. (Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION] Elon Musk’s Starlink is keeping Ukrainians online when traditional Internet fails (The Washington Post)
• [PLATFORM REGULATION/ANTITRUST] Tensions in House GOP over how to go after Big Tech are boiling over (Washington Post)
• [HATE SPEECH/PLATFORM GOVERNANCE] ‘Kill more’: Facebook fails to detect hate against Rohingya (AP/City News)
• [DEFAMATION] Oligarchs drop defamation lawsuit over Trump-Russia dossier (AP/City News)
• [ENTERTAINMENT] Amazon closes its $8.45 billion acquisition of movie studio MGM (Washington Post)
• [POLICY] OPINION: GRIMES Disney chief’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ drama is a crisis of his own making (Financial Times)

(March 15- March 22, 2022)

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

·         MP Jones to announce high-speed Internet project in Labrador

National Film Board

·         National Film Board of Canada announces distribution path for Inconvenient Indian

Microsoft Blog

·         A new Open Data for Social Impact Framework

CRTC

News Releases:

·         Broadcasting decision 2022-71
[2022-03-18 11:00:00]
Leclerc Communication inc. – Québec, Quebec – Application to change the authorized contours of the radio station CFEL-FM Québec

·         Broadcasting order 2022-70
[2022-03-17 11:00:00]
Broadcasting Licence Fees – Part I

·         Telecom decision 2022-69
[2022-03-17 11:00:00]
Groupe Maskatel LP – Implementation of local competition regarding CoopTel in the exchange of Upton, Quebec – Public record: 8663-M22-202107044

·         Telecom notice of consultation 2021-404-1
[2022-03-16 16:00:00]
Call for comments – Hosted call handling solutions for public safety answering points on the next-generation 9-1-1 network – Changes to procedure – Public record: 1011-NOC2021-0404

·         Broadcasting decision 2022-68
[2022-03-16 16:00:00]
Review of the authorization to distribute Russia Today (RT) and RT France pursuant to the List of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution

·         Broadcasting decision 2022-67
[2022-03-16 16:00:00]
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – Calgary and Harvie Heights, Alberta – Application to change the authorized contours of CBRC-FM Harvie Heights, a rebroadcasting transmitter of the English-language radio station CBR

Supreme Court of Canada

·         [WEB SITE BLOCKING/ ONLINE GAMBLING] The Supreme Court of Canada announced today that judgment in the following leave applications will be delivered at 9:45 a.m. EDT on Thursday, March 24, 2022. This list is subject to change: 39774 Attorney General of Quebec v. Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (Que.) (Civil) (By Leave)

Senate of Canada

·         Planned & Possible sitting days this week: The Senate sits all week.

• Transport and Communications:  March 23, 2022 6:30 PM ET   
  • Study the impacts of climate change on critical infrastructure in the transportation and communications sectors; Witnesses:

• -Susan Hart, Director General, Spectrum Management Operations Branch
• -Marc-André Rochon, Senior Director, Spectrum Management Operations Branch
• -Wen Kwan, Senior Director, Information and Communications Technology Resilience
• -Martin Proulx, Director General, Spectrum and Telecommunications Sector
• -Andre Arbour, Director General, Telecommunications and Internet Policy Branch

Canadian House of Commons

·         Planned & Possible sitting days this week: The House meets all week.

• ETHI Use and Impact of Facial Recognition Technology: March 21, 2022 11:00 a.m. – 1:07 p.m. (EDT)
• LANG Priorities and Pressing Issues for the Minister of Official Languages: March 23, 2022 3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. (EDT)

CRTC

Anticipated releases for the week of 21 to 25 March 2022

The CRTC plans to issue the following decisions and/or regulatory policies in the week of 21 to 25 March 2022. This is subject to change without notice.

Broadcasting Decisions:

·         Cogeco Media Inc.
CILM-FM Saguenay, Chicoutimi – Acquisition of assets
Public record: 2021-0295-3

·         Arsenal Média inc.
CHGO-FM Val-d’Or, CHOA-FM Rouyn-Noranda and its transmitters and CJGO-FM La Sarre and its transmitter – Acquisition of assets
Public record: 2021-0297-9

·         Corus Radio Inc.
CJKR-FM Winnipeg – Technical changes
Public record: 2022-0009-6

Open Proceedings

·         CRTC Open Broadcasting Proceedings

·         CRTC Open Telecom Proceedings

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